Dirty secrets of Black Friday 'doorbusters'

[D Ghost]

Excerpt:

Should Black Friday deal hunters feel cheated? Yes they should, say some retail experts.

"It's a sleazy practice," said Craig Johnson, retailing expert and president of retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners.

"I am old school," said Johnson. "If a retailer is advertising a juicy deal and they are not prepared to have in sufficient quantity, don't advertise it. Or give consumers a raincheck."

Johnson said it's not enough for retailers to mention that they'll have such limited quantities of a product on one of the most-hyped shopping days of the year.

"Retailers aren't winning any customers. They are just pissing off people," he said. "It's poor retailing practice."

Unfortunately for consumers, more examples abound.

CNNMoney.com spoke to industry experts to uncover a few dirty secrets of Black Friday deals.

Limited quantities. Advertising a Black Friday deal as "limited quantities" is bogus, said Johnson.

"The only time it makes sense to have only two or three [items] in stock is if the deal is on a $2 million gift product that appears in the Neiman Marcus holiday catalog," he said.

Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate and editor of Consumer World, agreed with Johnson.

"C'mon guys. Give me a break," said Dworsky. "How can you be the size of a retailer like Sears and only get a minimum of five per store, yet devote big space in your circular to advertise that deal?

http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/20/news...ex.htm?cnn=yes

[Waddymelon]

Its a sleazy practice, yet its not a practice for Sleazy.

[woj]

how is that sleazy, they are likely selling the items at or below cost... so obviously they can't be selling 100s of them... they are there to make $$, not to give "deals" to the people...

[fatfoo]

Dirty secrets are unvealed
Horse's minions will be healed
Athlete has a muscled arm
Duck is sitting on a pig in a farm
Pig is oinking to go to war
Animal farm argues to more
Ravens scream and fly above
Doves will kill you in red blood

[fatfoo]

Pretty doves fly above
Horses neigh and frogs laugh
Bumble bees gather honey
Spiders crawl over money
A crazy woman slits her wrists
Everywhere its fog and mist
Computer programs don't resist

[JimmiDean]

Its called a loss leader nothing really new,
Just another way to get people through the door.

[Elli]

It's not sleazy if you read the limitations. Sure, lots of people are willing to line up overnight outside the store, hoping to be one of the people to get the item. But regular folks can just assume it's been sold by later in the day.

[Tom_PM]

I think they're trying to make the point that in reality, the practice goes beyond the normal expectations like appearing in the replies.

If a sprawlmart has a mailer that hits 4,000 local mailboxes with page 1 dedicated to a door buster of a computer, and the store only received 3 for sale.. you dont think it's misleading? "limited quantities" covers it for you? What if they receive 2? What if they only get 1? where do you draw your line?

To me thats not a "limited quantity" at all, it's not even a quantity. It's a tactic mis-using advertising laws to sneak through and get you in and get some of your money on price jacked garbage that they have tons of devaluing in their warehouse.

This is not junk they made a bad buy on and now they're blowing it out for only 9.99, these are special one-time buys they make and bring in, supposedly to sell to you, not just to tease you in.

[Elli]

Originally Posted by PR_Tom

I think they're trying to make the point that in reality, the practice goes beyond the normal expectations like appearing in the replies.

If a sprawlmart has a mailer that hits 4,000 local mailboxes with page 1 dedicated to a door buster of a computer, and the store only received 3 for sale.. you dont think it's misleading? "limited quantities" covers it for you? What if they receive 2? What if they only get 1? where do you draw your line?

To me thats not a "limited quantity" at all, it's not even a quantity. It's a tactic mis-using advertising laws to sneak through and get you in and get some of your money on price jacked garbage that they have tons of devaluing in their warehouse.

This is not junk they made a bad buy on and now they're blowing it out for only 9.99, these are special one-time buys they make and bring in, supposedly to sell to you, not just to tease you in.

That's a good point... 1 or 2 units does not even count as a quantity.

[BradM]

It's all BS hype used to bring in idiots to buy shit they don't need. This isn't anything new. Americans are such consumer whores it's easy to sell them stuff. This is a time tested way to do that.

[beemk]

its not misleading. anyone with common sense knows to stay away from stores on black friday and those are limited quantities.

[seeandsee]

i can sell anything, just give me prime time

[cherrylula]

Originally Posted by PR_Tom

If a sprawlmart has a mailer that hits 4,000 local mailboxes with page 1 dedicated to a door buster of a computer, and the store only received 3 for sale.. you dont think it's misleading? "limited quantities" covers it for you? What if they receive 2? What if they only get 1? where do you draw your line?
.

Exactly what they do. They print and circulate 1,000s of fliers with the big full page ad showing an item that they know they only have 2 in stock.

Misleading to say the least.

[D Ghost]

Originally Posted by cherrylula

Exactly what they do. They print and circulate 1,000s of fliers with the big full page ad showing an item that they know they only have 2 in stock.

Misleading to say the least.

True that