Black Friday 2012 could turn out to be very interesting!!! Target recently announced that they will be taking a different approach to the usual Holiday craziness this year.
“We’re not interested in driving sales for the sake of sales, [so] you might see us lag competitors in terms of comp-store sales increases,” said John Mulligan, executive vice president and chief financial officer of Target, during Goldman Sachs’ Global Retailing Conference on Wednesday.
Instead, Target is playing up the first half of its “expect more, pay less,” promise this gift-giving season, and its raison d’etre: upscale and trendy exclusive collections, most notably a new fashion and home line it co-created with tony Neiman Marcus department stores.
When it came time to plot its strategy for the holiday, a make-or-break period for retailers, Target management pondered, “How do we compete effectively our way?” Mulligan said. “The Neiman Marcus [co-branded collection] brings something that’s about fashion and differentiation, which is how we compete in the marketplace, and not focus so much on the lowest price of a 44-inch television.” Read more…
What are your thoughts? The last few years have seen big changes on Black Friday – employees are required to work no exception, stores are opening Thanksgiving night which has employees having to leave their families mid afternoon on Thanksgiving and which each passing year we see more and more people getting injured chasing after deals on off brand, poor quality products. Things have gotten so bad (not limited to Black Friday), that there are rumors of Walmart employees staging a nationwide walk-out on Black Friday!
Hundreds of Walmart workers rallied across dozen cities in the US, protesting against low wages and alleged unjust labour practices and have threatened to go on a nationwide strike on November 23, the ‘Black Friday’, which is said to be the busiest day for the company.
According to news reports, workers held walkouts and marches in cities across the US including those in Dallas, San Diego, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington DC, Sacramento and even at its headquarters in Arkansas. Read more…
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