Social Media Sites Playing Bigger Role in Black Friday Promotions
Social media tools are reshaping how consumers will shop on Black Friday 2010 and in the future. The Huffington Post said Wednesday that with the increasing popularity of social media sites Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter and Groupon, this year’s Black Friday is “the most social media-savvy to date.”
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T.J. Maxx and sister company Marshalls didn’t wait until Black Friday to spark a consumer frenzy: Last week the retailers sent out Twitter notices about a limited number of iPads selling for $399 at unspecified locations of theirs. A follow-up news release from parent company TJX referred to reports of “a very limited number of electronic tablet computers” but denied reports of an impending Black Friday special. To avoid a consumer backlash, the company issued a statement acknowledging that “while a few stores did carry the item last week, the reports of Black Friday specials are false.” The unadvertised 16GB Wi-Fi models sold out in a day, the company said, adding, “You never know what unexpected deals, designer merchandise or hot items you will find as part of the more than 10,000 new items that arrive at every store each week."
Sears is using a voting system on its Facebook page to decide on promotions. Featured deals that get enough “likes” will go live, the page said. The featured deal at the time we looked was a Dyson vacuum cleaner, marked down 9 percent. The next product in the queue was a Garmin Nuvi 1200 GPS navigation device, but the price hadn’t been posted.
RadioShack created the Holiday Hero badge in a Foursquare promotion advertised on Facebook. Participants must check in to two hotspots using their smartphones to unlock the virtual badge and then check in at the nearest Radio Shack “to grab the best gifts at great prices,” the retailer said. Participants will get exclusive in-store discounts on qualifying purchases, according to the site: 10 percent for checking in, 15 percent for earning a mayorship -- having the most check-ins to a store -- and 20 percent for unlocking the badge.
An enterprising Avon rep in Fort Hood, Texas, co-opted a Radio Shack page on Facebook to promote her own Black Friday deal: a Flip Video for $89 from Avon. She compared that with Wal-Mart’s Black Friday price of $99 and Radio Shack’s $129 price, both of which she said in a posting were “too HIGH.” She added, “Avon has them all beat & no crowd to fight!"
Target posted Black Friday deals on its website Wednesday after having customers sign up for e-mail notifications earlier in the week. On its Facebook page Target said, “It’s Black Friday prep time” and directed fans to http://spr.ly/6030uxkm for two-day sales deals, store maps, and videos to get customers “psyched up for the annual get-up-way-too-early shopping event.” Target is also giving away 100 $25 gift cards Friday and Saturday through its Facebook page.
High-volume retailers aren’t the only ones using social media to promote Black Friday deals to loyal customers. Specialty audio/video retailer Gramophone in Maryland promoted an up-to-50 percent off/24-month financing deal on its Facebook page. “You probably don’t think of us as a Black Friday kinda place,” the site said. “For the most part, you'd be right. However ... we don’t want to you wait in lines outside in the cold overnight. We don’t want you to be caught in stampedes of people. And we won’t be advertising that we're ‘SLASHING PRICES FOR ONE DAY ONLY.'"
A link buried on regional electronics chain P.C. Richard & Son’s Facebook page directed fans to the company blog, which told them to look in the Thursday newspaper for advertised Black Friday specials. GameStop used Twitter and Facebook to tell customers Wednesday it’s “buy two get one free promotion was back” on pre-owned games and accessories from Wednesday through Sunday.