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What are your best Black Friday experiences?

I don’t have any yet because I haven’t gone to stores on Black Friday in the past.

My wife, her two sisters and her mother venture out each Black Friday to claim their start, and sometimes finish, to the holiday shopping season.

Well, this year the husbands are tagging along, and that includes me.  Black Friday, or really any shopping, is not my bag, but I’m interested in the company and comradery. 

Plus, as a marketer, I’m always interested in what marketing messages and sale pricing strategies resonate most with people, and are most effective (especially with my sisters and mother-in-law – a.k.a. super shoppers). 

One could say it’s an experiment in proving out psychological marketing theory.  It will be interesting to observe the female and male (myself and brothers-in-law’s) interaction and reaction to in-store Black Friday sales and marketing messages.

Here’s my thought:

Black Friday has become an event and in many ways a national tradition – it’s really become the opening bell if you will, to the holiday shopping season.  That being said, there is a community of Black Friday shoppers – new and veterans – who are brothers and sisters in arms.  The “being a part of something larger than one’s self” idea is at play with the Black Friday event.

There’s another part of the event – the truly commerce-focused part.  There’s a sense of urgency that is centered on scarcity and attractive price points that will be gone if one is not in the right place at the right time.

I believe folks attend Black Friday to be a part of that tradition and community, or to truly beat the arms race for the best gifts at the cheapest price…whichever one is your main reason, the other ends up being a bonus.

Enjoy Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Be thankful for those you’re with and be safe shoppers.

Posted by Nick Venturella

P.S.  Another thought is that Black Friday is the extrovert event and Cyber Monday is the equivalent introvert event.

Check out these Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals