Thanksgiving is a time where people go home to their families for a nice meal, rest and relaxation.
It is also the start of the holiday season as Christmas is just around the corner, the weather is officially cold and the spirit is high.
Yet, aside from family and home cooking, there is a huge benefit to the holiday season that makes it appeal to more than just those who celebrate.
It all starts on Black Friday, as the holiday season is famous for discounts and solid deals at all malls, stores and outlets.
Black Friday, or the day after Thanksgiving, has routinely been the busiest shopping day of the year since 2005. Retail stores used to open at 6:00 a.m. until the past few years where stores began opening at 5:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m. or even some stores at midnight.
“I went to my local mall at one in the morning and there were already crazy lines outside every store,” said senior business major Sam Allen. “It was absolute mayhem, but I ended up getting a flat screen TV for just 80 bucks.”
The strategy of lowering prices for the holiday season is what keeps businesses alive during these times and what promotes large groups of buyers to their products.
Stores like Macy’s create deals where their items go from anywhere between 20 and 40 percent off, attracting shoppers who appreciate a real bargain deal.
Furthermore, Black Friday has become an annual holiday with many participants, yet may not be considered enough time for these massive crowds of people to get their deals in a fast and civil manner.
For this reason, Cyber Monday and Cyber-week have been popularized to continue the holiday season’s deals and make for an extended period of time where stores can offer solid bargains.
The concept of Cyber Monday is to attract customers who could not wake up and make it to the stores for deals on Black Friday. The Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend is when the stores’ online departments offer similar deals on products that are popular during the holiday season.
Companies like Walmart, Target and Amazon continue these deals throughout the week on items such as video games, televisions, clothing, grooming products and much more.
Barnes and Noble hands out $20 coupons with their purchases, as aside from taking percentages off prices, giving coupons has promoted more shoppers and ultimately more purchases as well.
“I do most of my shopping online anyway,” said senior journalism major Danielle Levy. “It wouldn’t make sense to just give deals on one day when you can attract so many more customers by giving the deals online throughout the week.”
That’s just the mindset that these big retail stores have taken and the theory has proven successful as Cyber-week has become the biggest online shopping week of the year.
Aside from giving great deals to shoppers, Cyber-week has another benefit, which is the fact that it eliminates the hostility and mayhem that holiday shoppers tend to have.
The chaos has become inevitable, as people will always rush to stores to get the best deals on their products before they run out. However, Cyber-week creates for a much more peaceful shopping experience.
The ability to give shoppers such deals, avoid chaos and extend a popular holiday tradition has given Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Cyber-week their popularity and created for a once-a-year bargain that customers can’t refuse.