Today’s infographic round-up explores Black Friday spending, Cyber Monday, and “why America is failing to produce enough STEM graduates”.
View more daily infographic round-ups here.
Black Friday spending:
Cyber Monday:
![The History of Cyber Monday [Infographic]](http://blog.youneverlose.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/cyber-monday-history.png)
The Math-Science shortage:
Shoppers appeared to get a head-start on the Black Friday shopping scramble by resorting to online retail on Thanksgiving Day to commence the holiday shopping season. Among the top 500 retail websites, Experian Hitwise reports that visits increased 9% this year from 2010. Traffic increased steadily in each of the days leading up to the holiday but then jumped up 57% from Wednesday to Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. Monday, November 21, saw the greatest increase over last year with retail sites reporting a 21% increase in traffic compared to the Monday preceding Thanksgiving last year.
Online visitors to department stores such as Wal-Mart and Amazon represented the greatest amount of traffic on Thanksgiving as most online consumers (65%) gravitated to the top 20 retail sites. Unsurprisingly, Wal-Mart.com was once again the top-visited retail site on Thanksgiving Day, making that seven years in a row for the retail giant. Retailers of videos and games saw the greatest hike in traffic with 28% more visitors this year than last year.
Beyond the traffic increasing, online sales as a whole grew when compared to the same period from last year. IBM reports a 39.3% climb in general online sales this year and attributes the growing trend of shoppers using mobile devices in order to find sales as a significant factor for the surge. The greater mobility and accessibility of online shoppers have caused some speculation as to whether Thanksgiving Day will supplant Black Friday as the target shopping day for retailers. With Black Friday more and more resembling a Black Flag mosh pit as customers try to secure coveted discounts on gifts, it’s hardly surprising that more consumers would opt out of the fisticuffs and remain unscathed while completing their holiday shopping.
In the years since its inception, Cyber Monday has grown to rival Black Friday as one of the biggest shopping days of the year, with some speculating that, at least in terms of year-to-year growth, it may even surpass its older cousin in coming years. Black Friday sales grew far more than expected this year, suggesting that Cyber Monday figures can expect to see a similar jump, if not larger.
How much of your shopping will you be doing on Cyber Monday? Let us know in the Comments.
Social networking sites like Twitter are awash with buzz about Cyber Monday. While most tweets are from retailers advertising their deals, or from price aggregators promising to help find the best prices, others range in topic from the humorous…
@EricStangel
Eric StangelIn preparation for Cyber Monday, I just pepper sprayed my computer…
13 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
To the cautionary…
@fema
FEMART @DHSgov: Shopping this #CyberMonday? Check out these #cybersecurity tips from Stop. Think. Connect. first: http://t.co/sz0eTjkx 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto
Nearly every retailer, from the smallest to the largest, has at least some sort of Cyber Monday special going, offering sometimes enormous discounts on a wide array of products. Some of the best deals are to be found in electronics. For example, Amazon has reduced the price of its Kindle DX reader by $150, and is offering massive discounts on a variety of gadgets, video games, and movies. Data obtained from PriceGrabber.com shows that these categories are some of the areas showing the most significant sales growth this year are already.
Here’s an interesting infographic, courtesy of Daily Infographic:
To successfully attend a Black Friday sales sweepstake, a person must develop a certain set of skills. First is learning how to box out and use elbows to keep away all the competition going after that Twilight blu-ray on sale for $4 (not an actual sale). One new tactic which might be useful going into next year is building up an immunity to pepper spray. Oh, and don’t go after the towels on sale unless you’re built like a linebacker.
Enjoy all the chaos recorded during Black Friday 2011, where the joy of the beginning of the Christmas season was uploaded for all of us to see on YouTube.
The first set of videos shows that it’s not just the big ticket items people were going crazy over. Towels for $1.28!!!
Along with the random bouts of chaos, there was some extreme physical consequences. Not just for people, but all the Wal-Mart displays as well.
This one actually has some character, and plot development as well…
One of the new trends during the Black Friday 2011 season was the use of police force and pepper spray. No, this isn’t related to the meme.
(Warning: this one is bloody, and a step above the others on the disturbing ladder)
Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, and enjoyed some great Black Friday sales. Time to start training for next year.
By all early reports, this year’s Black Friday was a huge day for the retail community. And it was an enormous day for online sales. comScore’s report said that Black Friday online sales totaled a whopping $816 million – a figure that sets it apart from any other shopping day this year.
Those sales dwarfed 2010’s Black Friday online sales – a jump of 26% year-over-year. Over 50 million Americans participated in online shopping last Friday.
And at the top of the list of retailers that benefited from the online shopping push is Amazon. The comScore report indicates that Amazon beat out Walmart and Best Buy to be the top online retailer on Friday. Amazon has just released some information on that day’s sales – and the Kindle reigned supreme.
According to the release, Black Friday 2011 was the best ever for the Kindle. Kindle sales apparently increased fourfold year-over-year.
“Even before the busy holiday shopping weekend, we’d already sold millions of the new Kindle family and Kindle Fire was the bestselling product across all of Amazon.com. Black Friday was the best ever for the Kindle family – customers purchased 4X as many Kindle devices as they did last Black Friday – and last year was a great year,” said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Kindle. “In addition, we’re seeing a lot of customers buying multiple Kindles – one for themselves and others as gifts – we expect this trend to continue on Cyber Monday and through the holiday shopping season.”
They also said that the new Kindle Fire tablet remained the top selling item on the site, a title it has held since it was introduced back in September.
Amazon wasn’t the only online retailer selling tablets on Black Friday – Apple, as you probably know, had a big Black Friday sale this year. Naturally, a “big sale” for Apple is different than a “big sale” for other retailers. But Apple’s offerings included $100 off certain MacBooks and a few dozen dollars off the iPad 2 and iPod Touch.
But apparently, it was enough to get people shopping – both online and in stores. According to a source inside Apple, the company had it’s best retail sales day ever. From 9to5Mac –
Apple Retail was forecast and broke Retail sales records all over the country today, this is from [redacted] today, the forecast today is more than 4 times what we normally do. We broke the forecast by 7pm.
Reports suggest that Cyber Monday (the newer shopping holiday devoted to online shopping, taking place today), could see over 1 billion dollars in online purchasing. There’s no doubt that both Amazon and Apple will be huge parts in that total.
Are you participating in this giant shopping week? Let us know in the comments.
Black Friday online sales jumped over 26 percent this year, according to a report from comScore. Led by Amazon.com, online sales reached $816 million, making it the biggest spending day online so far in 2011.
Just to put it in perspective for you, last year’s online Black Friday sales only increased 9 percent from the previous year.
comScore data showed that fifty million Americans shopped online on Black Friday, an increase of 35 percent from 2010.
comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni stated:
“With brick-and-mortar retail also reporting strong gains on Black Friday, it’s clear that the heavy promotional activity had a positive impact on both channels.”
The top five retail websites on Black Friday were Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, Target and Apple.
“Amazon.com once again led the pack, with 50 percent more visitors than any other retailer, while also showing the highest growth rate versus last year,” said Fulgoni.
With Cyber Monday looming, Fulgoni predicted another record setting day, which is saying something. Sales from Cyber Monday last year topped $1 billion, which made it the largest online spending day ever, according to comScore.
What’s your prediction for Cyber Monday? Leave us a comment below with your guesstimate.
As yesterday’s round-up was Thanksgiving-themed, naturally, today’s is Black Friday themed. Enjoy.
View more daily video round-ups here.
Kohl’s does “Friday”:
Here’s the original:
Lil Kim – Black Friday:
BuzzFeed recently posted a nice round-up of Black Friday stampedes, which pointed to these YouTube videos:
This guy runs down the Best Buy Black Friday Deals:
Today’s infographic is all about shopping and moustaches. That includes Black Friday Cybermonday and Movember.
View more daily infographic round-ups here.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday hacks and scams:
Shopping cart abandonment:
Moustaches:
Black Friday is almost upon us. Widely recognized as the busiest shopping day of the year, it’s the day when shoppers brave the crowds and the cold to save a few bucks on Christmas gifts.
Sure it may be called “Black Friday” but this year some sales are actually starting on Thanksgiving Day. For instance, the Black Friday sale at Walmart actually begins at 10PM on Thursday. This year 152 million shoppers plan to brave the crowds this Holiday weekend, and will spend an estimated $465.5 billion at various stores. That’s up almost 3% from 2010.
To help you on your quest to save money this season, we’ve put together a list of 5 essential apps for black friday, along with their official app description. One of the featured apps could prove quite handy if you were to lose your iPhone while out shopping. Check them out below and leave us a comment with your favorite Black Friday / shopping apps.
1. BFAds.net Black Friday (Free)
The BFAds.net Black Friday app lets you plan your Black Friday (Day after Thanksgiving) shopping trip weeks in advance! Brought to you by the largest Black Friday site, the BFAds.net app provides you with early access to the season’s best sale advertisements and deals from major retailers. Browse the ads by store or category, read the latest sale news and even create your own shopping list to take with you to the store on the big day!
2.) Black Friday (Free)
The Black Friday Deal Finder 2011 is the best on-the-go resource for reviewing and organizing Black Friday deals. Powered by FatWallet.com’s innovative Black Friday Deal Finder (online), this mobile version displays ALL major retailers’ Black Friday ads (pre-released) so you can quickly search, save customized lists and never miss a deal. User friendly features include: sort deals by store and category, filter stores by cateogry, search by product name, reference individual deals for quick comparisons… among other great features.
3.) Price Check by Amazon (Free)
Ever wondered if you were getting the best price on a product when you were out shopping? With Price Check by Amazon, you can use your iPhone to instantly compare prices with Amazon.com and its merchants while on-the-go. Price Check enables you to search Amazon products quickly using barcode, picture, voice, and text search. All prices are in US Dollars and search the Amazon US catalog. Compatible with iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4 devices with auto-focus cameras and iOS 4 or greater.
4.) RedLaser – Barcode and QR Code Scan (Free)
The ALL-NEW RedLaser is the fastest and easiest to use RedLaser yet! It has everything you loved in RL Classic and more of the functionality you have told us you are looking for! RedLaser is still free to download! Shop smarter. RedLaser searches thousands of ONLINE and LOCAL retailers for the best prices and features product results from Google, TheFind, eBay, Milo, and many more.
5.) Find My iPhone (Free)
If you misplace your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Mac, the Find My iPhone app will let you use another iOS device to find it and protect your data. Simply install this free app on another iOS device, open it, and sign in with your Apple ID. Find My iPhone will help you locate your missing device on a map.You can then choose to display a message or play a sound, remotely lock your device, or erase your data on it.
Black Friday is one crazy day of shopping, but possibly armed with the right app you can make it a huge success for your budget.
[Lead image courtesy: pinoytutorial.com]
Black Friday is almost upon us. That special time of the year when people rush out to the stores to spend their money, trample on each other, and get in fights over marked down merchandise, in true holiday spirit.
What are you looking for deals on? Let us know in the comments.
iPads, Tablets and Other Gadgets To Be Hot Items
Research shows that the iPad and other tablets could dominate Black Friday shopping.
In the US, UK and Australia, Apple is having a “special one-day shopping event”. The deals are said to include discounts on iPads, Macs and iPods on Apple’s online store and in retail stores. 9to5Mac claims to have more details from a “trusted tipster”.
Amazon is doing a deal on Saturday, or starting on midnight – Black Friday night: All Windows Phone 7 and select Android devices, for just $.01
Google’s Chromebooks
While not exactly a Black Friday deal, Google did announce a price drop on Chromebooks.
Online Advertising
According to a report from MediaPost, “Retail marketers gearing up for Black Friday spent more of their digital ad budget on paid-search and digital advertising in Q4 2011, compared with the year-ago quarter.”
Foursquare
Foursquare has provided a Black Friday survival guide:
On your phone: Tap on the ‘Explore’ tab in the foursquare app and hit the bright orange ‘Specials’ button to find all the deals nearby. Expand the radius (by tapping on the number in the top left) for more deals!
On foursquare.com: Check out the map on the homepage to see Specials in the neighborhood, marked in orange. Zoom out or drag the map around to see more!
Don’t forget to hit ‘+SAVE’ on ones you want to be reminded about later!
Groupon
Looking for some Black Friday Groupon action? At the time of this writing, Groupon’s shares are down. Wall St. Cheat Sheet says, “investors fear Groupon may not properly navigate the critical holiday season.”
“Groupon has also decided to challenge the norm by not running any Black Friday or Cyber Monday specials unlike its competitor, LivingSocial,” the site says. “Groupon plans to run deals on unique, ‘once in a lifetime’ experiences such as tickets to The Ellen DeGeneres Show, cooking lessons and horseback riding.”
LivingSocial
About those LivingSocial Deals…
As my colleague Josh Wolford reported:
Beginning at 5am, LivingSocial will begin the Black Friday deals, and from there will continue into Saturday, Sunday and into Cyber Monday. There will apparently be a whole new round of deals announced on Monday.
This initiative allows for national companies to get in on the daily deals action, while the upside for LivingSocial is that it gets to participate (in a slightly roundabout way) in the biggest shopping weekend known to man. According to SVP of national Sales Mitch Spolan, “the service isn’t changing its local-business focus, but gets the opportunity to offer something special nationally from time to time.”
So far, businesses signed on for the deals include Verizon, Sketchers, EA games, BlueFly, Skype, and Wine.com. Like the daily local deals, most of these offerings will be of the 50%-off variety. For instance, one of the deals set to begin on Cyber Monday is $40 for $80 worth of merchandise on Wine.com.
You can check the LivingSocial Black Friday page on Friday for information on the specific deals.
Black Friday Winners?
Drawing from Facebook engagement numbers, SocialBakers reports that Walmart will be the big Black Friday winner this season, followed by Target, Kohl’s, Macy’s, and JC Penney.
Speaking of Kohl’s, they’ve gone the Internet meme route with their latest ad:
SocialBakers shares the following stats:
A report from Nielsen says:
Recent weekly Nielsen surveys of shoppers show that, much like in 2010, the majority of consumers (80%) are avoiding in-store Black Friday shopping. While increased Black Friday promotions appeal to consumer’s desire for “hot deals,” as a shopping event, Black Friday is becoming less relevant in the retail world as online shopping grows and holiday promotions begin earlier and earlier in the year. In fact, 35 percent of those recently survey cited they’ve already started their holiday shopping.
This will be a holiday season polarized between those still feeling the recession and those who have begun to spend again. This divide will greatly impact where consumers shop, what they buy and how much they spend. Of those surveyed, 66 percent plan to spend the same as they did in 2010. Thirty percent plan to spend between $500 and $1,000 this season, with 50 percent planning to spending between $250 and $500?. Only 17 percent of consumers said they planned to spend more than $1,000.
What deals are you looking for on Black Friday? Will you go to the stores or will you simply shop online? Let us know in the comments.
Yesterday, announcements for a Black Friday sale began popping up on Apple’s sites in the U.S., UK, Australia and many more locations. It was pretty non-specific, simply saying that a one-day event was to take place on November 25th, and that it would include deals on Macs, iPods and iPads.
According to some leaked details obtained by 9to5Mac, this year’s Black Friday sale at Apple Stores will resemble Black Friday sales of the past. The Mac line, including the MacBook Air, the MacBook Pro and the iMac will receive the most significant discounts.
Here are some of the top discounts on devices:
So the more GB you buy, the bigger the discount for the iPad 2 and the iPod Touch.
The Black Friday sale will also discount accessories including a Phillips Dual Dock Clock Radio for $98 ($52 off), a Michael Kors Clutch for you iPhone for $58 ($22 off), and $11 off an Apple Wireless Keyboard.
According to the leaks, iTunes gift cards will also receive a discount: $45 for a $50 card.
Like events of the past, these discounts are far from monumental. But hey, it is Apple we’re talking about here. Still, if you were planning on getting your loved one an iMac for the holidays, it doesn’t hurt to get 100 bucks off.
According to emails sent out by Apple on Tuesday, the sale will occur both online and in retail stores.
Last week, it was announced that AT&T would be holding a Black Friday sale, offering an array of phones for the low, low price of one penny. Of course, there are stipulations involved including a two-year contract and the acceptance of a data plan. Apparently, one cent smartphones are the trend of the day-after-Thanksgiving sales, because Amazon is in on it, too.
Over at Amazon Wireless, the details of the sale are discussed, which are as follows:
For a limited time only, all phones from Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T with a new line of service are on sale for a penny and include standard FREE Two-Day Shipping. Offer valid between midnight PDT November 21, 2011, through 11:59 p.m. PDT November 28, 2011, while supplies last. Plus, if you buy an eligible hotspot-ready smartphone and activate the hotspot feature, you’ll get a $100 Amazon.com Gift Card.
There are a number of Android-powered handsets as well as BlackBerry. However, for those of you wanting to grab a new iPhone 4S during Amazon’s sale, sorry, no Apple devices are included in the one cent blowout. That being said, the DROID RAZR 4G (from Sprint) is available, as is the BlackBerry Torch. The HTC Thunderbolt falls into Amazon’s sale, and there are a few Samsung handsets as well.
Basically, Amazon’s smartphone sale carries just about every phone except the iPhone. If Amazon’s list is comprehensive, there are almost 97 phones featured in during the one cent sale, which, according to Amazon’s disclaimer, is “valid between midnight PDT November 21, 2011, through 11:59 p.m. PDT November 28, 2011, while supplies last.”
Phones purchased during the sale are required to have a two-year contract, which is the same stipulation issued for AT&T’s one cent sale. As for the iDevice family, Apple is also having a Black Friday sale. Unfortunately, there are no one cent iPhones or iPads, although, the tablets are scheduled for an apparent markdown.
UPDATE: Leaked flyers show what the actual discounts will look like.
Apple has officially jumped into the pool of companies that will offers deals this Friday, November 25th – or as shoppers and retailers lovingly call it, Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving is always the biggest shopping day of the year, and now one of the biggest players in the holiday shopping season has joined the fun.
A banner adorning the Online Apple Stores for the U.S., the UK, Australia and more promotes a “special one-day Apple shopping event.” The announcement specifically says “come back to the online store” for the deals, and makes no mention of Apple retail stores – so it looks like this Black Friday sale might be online only. An announcement email has clarified that the sale will also be taking place in the Apple retail stores.
Apparently, the deals will come in the form of discounted iPads, iPods, and Macs.
As MacRumors points out, when Apple holds a sale, it’s usually not as impressive as many other retailers. Last year, Macs were taken down about 100 bucks and iPods and iPads saw small markdowns of anywhere from $10 to $40.
But that doesn’t stop Apple from touting the benefits of purchasing your holiday gifts through the Apple Online Store. Some of those bonuses include free engraving, gift wrapping, and free shipping on items over $50.
Plus, while you wait on the Black Friday sale to commence, Apple offers a holiday gift guide that suggests gifts based on the type of person you’re shopping for.
Recent reports have suggested that this could be the season of the tablet, with iPads leading the way. The Apple tablet is the most wanted device for kids aged 6-12 this holiday season.
It’s that time of year when everybody’s looking for awesome deals for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. I can’t even begin to imagine how many are out there, but I can pass along some of the things I’ve come across today.
First, this isn’t exactly a Black Friday deal, but Google did announce a price drop for some Chromebooks. Beginning this week Acer and Samsung Chromebooks will be available starting at $299.
Amazon announced that it is adding some more deals to its Black Friday Deals Store. Examples include:
Samsung 46-Inch 1080p LED HDTV: $799.99 (save $500)
Nikon Coolpix P7000 Digital Camera: $249 (save $250)
Canon PowerShot SX230HS Digital Camera: $199 (save $150)
All phones from AT&T, Sprint and Verizon on sale for a penny at AmazonWireless (new activations only, two-year contract required)
PlayStation 3 160GB Bundle w/ two free games (Rachet & Clank: All 4 One and LittleBigPlanet 2):$199 (save $150)
Toshiba Satellite 14” laptop: $599.99 (save $150)
TomTom XXL 5-Inch GPS: $99.99 (save $99)
Samsung BD-D5700 Blu-ray Disc Player: $99.99 (save $80)
AK Anne Klein Swarovski Crystal Accented Rose Gold-Tone Leather Watch: $29.99 (save $95)
Save up to 60% off outerwear for Women, Men, Kids and Baby
White Gold Princess Cut Diamond Earrings: $299.99 (save $399)
Save up to $170 on Dyson vacuums
Bodum Bistro Electric French Press Coffee Maker and Tea Dripper, Red: $49.99 (save $43)
Wusthof Le Cordon Bleu 8-Inch Cook’s Knife: $89.99 (save $60)
Save 40% off select boots and slippers
“Bridesmaids” (DVD): $5.99 (save $23)
“The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy (Blu-ray): $49.99 (save $69.99)
Schwinn Jasmine Girls’ Bike, Light Blue: $69.99 (save $70)
Save up to 40% on select Angry Birds plush toys
Save up to 50% on select LeapFrog electronic toys
Popular album titles including “Watch the Throne” by Kanye West and Jay-Z, “Torches” by Foster the People and “Hands All Over” by Maroon 5 (MP3 Downloads): $4.99
GameFront put together what it calls “Your Ultimate Black Friday Video Games Deals List”. For consoles, they list:
PlayStation 3
160gb Holiday bundle with LittleBigPlanet 2 and Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One — $199 at Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Radio Shack, Target, Meijer, Toys R Us and Sears
Xbox 360
4GB console with Gears of War 3 and 3 months of Live an a $50 gift card — $199 at Wal-Mart (online)
4gb Kinect bundle — $199 at Wal-Mart ($50 gift card), Radio Shack and Toys R Us
4gb Kinect bundle — $209 at Sears
250gb Holiday Bundle with Fable III and Halo: Reach and 3 months of Live — $199 at Best Buy and Sam’s
4gb console — $139 at Target
4gb console — $149 at GameStop
4gb console with Modern Warfare 3 — $199 at KMart
Kinect with Kinect Adventures and The Gunstringer and Wipeout 2 — $99 at Toys R Us
Kinect with Kinect Adventures — $99 at Best Buy and Wal-Mart
Wii
Wii console — $99 at Wal-Mart, Sam’s and Meijer
3DS
3DS with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time — $179 at Best Buy, $199 at GameStop
3DS with Super Mario 3D Land — $179 at Best Buy and Target
3DS with Super Mario 3D Land — $199 at KMart and Sears
PSP
PSP-3000 core — $99 at Wal-Mart, KMart and Meijer
PSP-3000 core with Ape Escape or WipeOut Pure — $99 at Toys R Us
They also have a big list of games.
This guy runs down some Best Buy deals:
The top 10 hottest deals, according to FatWallet.com, are:
Norton Internet Security 2012 (1-PC) [Boxed CD] – Staples – Free
Toshiba Satelite C655D-S5332 15.6″ Laptop – Radio Shack – $299.99
Xbox 360 4GB Console w/Kinect – Walmart – $199.96
Acer 23″ Widescreen LCD Monitor – Staples – $99.99
BlackBerry PlayBook 7″ Tablet – 16GB, WiFi – Staples – $199.99
Acer Iconia Tab Tablet – Staples – $299.00
HP Pavilion g4-1204nr 14″ Laptop – Radio Shack – $399.99
Velocity micro Cruz T301 7″ 2GB Tablet – Radio Shack – $99.99
Kindle Fire Tablet (Plus $20 Staples Gift Card After Rebate) – Staples – $199.00
Toshiba Satellite L755-S5360 15.6″ Laptop – Intel Core i5-2430M Processor, 6GB RAM, 750GB HDD – Staples – $549.99
LivingSocial announced its Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. More on that here.
What are some of the best deals you’ve seen? Let us know in the comments.
As many of you already realize, the Friday after Thanksgiving, at least in the United States, is referred to as “Black Friday,” because that’s the day all the retailers get in the black, financial-wise. It’s a day of sales and bargains as stores try to drum as much business as they can, and judging by the reaction of the American public, Black Friday is a definite staple of American consumer process, and it’s here to stay.
With that in mind, it was reported that AT&T will be offering the Windows Phone 7 for one cent starting on Black Friday and going until the following Monday, which has become known as “Cyber Monday.” While some are indeed saying the deals will be available on Black Friday, the actual AT&T announcement says the one cent phones will be available on the Saturday after Black Friday:
Saturday, November 26, 12:01 a.m. ET
All Windows 7 and select Android devices, for just $.01
Naturally, there’s a company quote, explaining their strategy, which, after reading between the lines, is, we want even more customers, so we’re going to offer cheap prices for handsets and get them with two-year contracts, as well as minimum messaging plans and data plan purchases:
“We’re proud to continue to offer incredible value and savings in this economy,” said Phil Bienert, senior vice president, ATT.com. “We want to show our customers that we appreciate their loyalty—especially during the holiday season.”
Following the quote, the disclaimer appears:
All offers require a two-year service agreement. All smartphone offers require AT&T voice and a minimum of $15 per month data plan; quick messaging devices require a minimum $20 per month messaging plan. Some restrictions and other charges may apply.
But, the fact remains, Windows Phones will only cost you one penny, which is as good a reason as any to play the following video of Windows fangirls rapping about the Windows Phone. It’s certainly fitting:
The craziest shopping period of the year is rapidly approaching, as retail outlets are beginning to unveil some of their Black Friday deals. According to multiple reports, this year’s buying frenzy might be all about tablets.
At least that’s where people will be looking closely for deals. Although it’s probably not the group of devices most likely to see huge holiday markdowns, tablets are on the top of people’s shopping lists according to a new report from Retrevo.
According to the numbers, tablets are the most sought after item this season. 32% of those surveyed said that they will be looking for a deal on an iPad, Kindle Fire, or other tablet. This is tops, followed by HDTVs with 25% and Laptops with 24%.
As far as specific tablets go, folks are hoping to recieve the iPad and the new Kindle fire more than any other device. The two are at a virtual dead heat atop the list, followed closely by smartphones:
Other interesting finds from the survey include the fact that online shopping is set to increase once again, with 34% saying that they plan to do Black Friday shopping both online and in-stores. Only 10% of this year’s sample group say that they plan to do all of their shopping in-store, down from 18% last year.
So shoppers are looking to buy the iPad, and people really want to get the iPad as a gift this holiday season. When you look at additional data from Nielsen, you see that it’s not just adults that want Apple’s industry-leading tablet.
According to their own survey, kids really want iPads too. 44% of children aged 6-12 say that they want the device this holiday season. Apple ends up dominating the wishlist, as 30% of the kids desire an iPod Touch and 27% desire an iPhone.
What deals are you looking for this Black Friday? Do your family members want tablets, specifically iPads? Let us know in the comments.
U.S. consumer technology holiday sales were down 5 percent in 2010 totaling $10.3 billion, according to a new report from The NPD Group.
Heavy sales promotions early in November, before Black Friday, did not convince shoppers to spend early as sales for the first three weeks of the month fell by 5 percent compared to the previous year. Overall NPD estimates that 2010 sales for the 9 week sales period will total $14.9 billion down 4 percent from last year.
"Record sales in 2009 across major categories such as notebook PCs and TVs, combined with a significant slowdown in the pace of price declines created a difficult headwind for the industry in 2010," said Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis at NPD.
"With retailers and manufacturers focused on price maintenance, tech consumers ignored early season promotions, and instead keyed in on the traditionally price-aggressive deals offered during Black Friday and the week before Christmas. As a result, sales for the first three weeks of November and the first three weeks of December were significantly weaker than the traditional bookmark shopping periods."
NPD estimated early this year that tablet cannibalization rates could be as much as 15 percent likely impacting the sales of close to 1 million PCs during the holiday season. Notebook unit volume fell 9 percent with little to no discounting.
Some of the categories that have traditionally lent themselves to gift-giving items experienced a rough holiday season. Point-and-shoot camera sales declined 9 percent in units, MP3 player unit sales dropped 8 percent, GPS fell 24 percent in units, and digital picture frame unit volume fell by 24 percent.
"The industry suffered during the 2010 holiday season as the high-volume categories such as cameras and MP3 players experienced unit volume declines," said Baker.
"Though more niche and converged devices were attractive to consumers looking to replace older products, the volumes to drive industry growth simply weren’t there."
Black Friday saw $648 million in online sales, making it the heaviest online spending day to date in 2010 and representing a 9 percent increase over Black Friday 2009, according to the latest report from comScore.
U.S. ecommerce spending for the first 26 days of the November-December 2010 holiday season reached $11.64 billion, marking a 13 percent increase over the same period last year. Thanksgiving Day (November 26) saw online holiday spending up 28 percent to $407 million.
“Although Black Friday is known for the flurry of activity occurring in brick-and-mortar retail stores, online shopping is increasingly becoming the refuge of those preferring to avoid the crowds and long lines,” said comScore chairman, Gian Fulgoni.
“The $648 million in online spending this Black Friday represents the heaviest online spending day of the season-to-date and a solid increase over last year’s Black Friday. Interestingly, we are also seeing consumers beginning to buy online in a more meaningful way on Thanksgiving Day, which has historically seen low buying activity.”
As the online channel becomes more influential in driving offline shopping behavior, consumers are turning to Black Friday sites on the Internet to do research in advance of the day’s events. comScore analyzed eight Black Friday deal sites for the five days ending Black Friday (Nov. 22-26) compared to the corresponding days last year, finding that Black-Friday.net led the pack with 3.1 million unique visitors, up 42 percent versus last year. BlackFriday.info followed with 2.7 million visitors, while Black-Friday2010.com (up 478 percent to 1.5 million visitors) showed the greatest growth.
Other highlights about Black Friday bargain hunting include:
*The number of visitors to coupon sites on Black Friday grew 4 percent versus year ago to 3.6 million visitors, while the total number of visits to the category increased 16 percent to 7.4 million.
*BlackFriday.info was the most visited coupon site on Black Friday with 630,000 unique visitors, followed by CouponCabin.com (543,000), RetailMeNot.com (332,000 visitors) and Groupon.com (332,000).
*ShopLocal.com ranked as the most visited comparison shopping site on Black Friday with 2.1 million visitors, up 45 percent versus year ago.
Four retail properties surpassed four million U.S. unique visitors on Black Friday, with mixed results in comparison to last year. Amazon Sites was the most visited retail property on Black Friday, growing 25 percent from the corresponding shopping day a year ago, followed by Walmart, which saw a marginal decline of 1 percent. Target Corporation (up 9 percent) and Best Buy Sites (up 1 percent) rounded out the top four.
“Amazon, with a sizeable increase in traffic on Black Friday, continues to experience remarkable success during the holiday season,” added Mr. Fulgoni.
“We will be watching closely to see if the leading online retailer is able to sustain this momentum through Cyber Monday and into the heart of the online shopping season.”
Up to 138 million Americans plan to shop Black Friday weekend (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), more than the 134 million people who planned to do so last year, according to a new survey from the National Retail Federation and BIGresearch.
"The rules for Black Friday have changed significantly,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.
“Instead of waiting until Thanksgiving Day to announce their promotions, many retailers are getting shoppers excited about Black Friday by offering sneak peeks of deals in advance, using social media to create buzz, or teasing upcoming deals on their websites.”
This year, many retailers are using the Internet to bring shoppers into stores. According to the Shop.org eHoliday survey, more than half of retailers (54.9%) will send a special email to customers about Black Friday deals and nearly four out of 10 (39.2%) will use their Facebook page to reach out to shoppers. Additionally, many retailers will utilize their website’s home page (31.4%) and Twitter (21.6%) to announce and promote Black Friday deals.
Shop.org’s CyberMonday.com, which features promotions and deals from more than 700 retailers, will feature a Deal of the Hour on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Retailers participating in the Black Friday Deal of the Hour include QVC, Drugstore.com, American Eagle, Kmart, Sears, Sephora and Sierra Trading Post. Offers will include free shipping specials, dollars off, percentages off, and free gifts with purchase.
In addition, CyberMonday.com will be distributing hundreds of dollars in gift cards from major retailers each day through Dec. 25 to its fans on Facebook and followers on Twitter.