Retailers leak their holiday sale circulars to Black Friday sites
Retailers have found that it makes sense to leak their black friday ads themselves so that customers know what deals are available at the store. It is one of the best ways to get customers committed to buying something before they even walk into the store.
Several retailers just give their sale circulars to web sites that specialize in black Friday sales so that shoppers who decided to shop only based on price can get a head start. Some of the retailers who gave copies of their ads to sale sites include Home Depot, Pacific Sunwear, CompUSA and OshKosh B’Gosh.
This has been an interesting alliance since retailers and sale websites were once the number one enemy for each other, but this year with holiday sales expected to be the lowest in five years, both are coming up with new ways to shore up profits. The most popular of the black Friday sale sites is Bfads.net, which is the place for any retailer’s holiday circular to be to ensure customers coming in on Black Friday.
According to Michael Brim, founder of Bfads.net, the fact that retailers were reaching out to them this year was “definitely a change of pace from a few years ago when they all wanted to file lawsuits against us.” According to John D. Morris, senior retail analyst at Wachovia Securities, said that the fact that retailers were suddenly keen to to work with the sale sites “is so telling about this holiday season.”