By Alex Lloyd Gross
As shoppers lined up to get into retail stores this year, it appears that retailers failed to capture the really good stuff that people wanted and put it on sale. Of course, there would be cheap televisions. Walmart is habitually busy and this year was no different. People cued up to snag the cheap television. The stores opened on Thanksgiving but you could not check out until 6;00PM. That, was stupid. So now, people that wanted to run in for a quick item found themselves in a que, behind someone with multiple items. Across the country, there are videos of fights. When 25 people raid a stack of 10 items, 15 go home dissapointed.
K mart was less crowded but they were still doing a brisk business. Social media, and society in general struck back at retailers that would open on Thanksgiving mid day. That caused their employees to miss the holiday with family. This year, the majority were open but much later. K mart was open but started their sales at 7;00 PM which was also stupid. Imagine going in for shoes, you have your buy one get one for a dollar and you pick up a sweatshirt which should be on sale for $5.00. Sorry, that does not happen until two more hours. Do you think that customer will come back?
The reality is that most people are shopping for themselves. Very few people are going to give away a television or computer. Stores are working against themselves by stagnating the sales. Especially with clothes. If a customer shops at 10:00 AM, do you think they will return again at 7:00 PM? They will not venture into the store at 6:45PM because the chances are their size will be out of stock are very real.