Walmart, Target and Toys ‘R’ Us are just some of the US retailers kicking off their official holiday sales on Thanksgiving Day this year.
The November holiday is a lucrative period for US retailers with many planning to open up earlier than in 2011 when trading began at midnight; Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is traditionally seen as the start of the US holiday sales season.
With a third of US annual retail sales being made over the sales season running from Thanksgiving to the end of year, retailers are keen to have longer opening hours and more flash sales over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Walmart will open its doors at 8pm on Thanksgiving; the retailer’s US merchandising chief, Duncan Mac Naughton, said the retailer had received customer feedback saying they liked to go out and shop earlier and then get to bed earlier.
Toys ‘R’ Us and Sears will also open stores at 8pm on November 22; Sears plans to remain open right through to 10pm on Black Friday. Kmart will also open on Thanksgiving night as it has done for the last 21 years. Meanwhile, Target will open at 9pm on the holiday.
“Customers repeatedly told us that they liked being able to do their Black Friday shopping after they had finished their turkey dinners, so they didn’t have to spend all night outside in line and could sleep in on Friday,” said Troy Rice, executive vice president at Toys ‘R’ Us.
More than 1,100 Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic stores will open during Thanksgiving Day with an additional 1,500 stores opening at midnight for Black Friday.
Best Buy will open at midnight, the same as in 2011. It will also have online-only offers on Thanksgiving Day. Staples will open at 5am on Black Friday. Macy’s will also open at midnight on Black Friday.
The National Retail Federation revealed that more than half of shoppers said they will use the Internet for gift buying – 51.8% of shoppers indicated they will shop online, a 4.2 per cent increase from 46.7% last year. Retailers will focus on carrying out detailed competitor price monitoring over the Thanksgiving holiday to ensure products are competitively priced, based on the price intelligence gathered on the Internet.
© Profitero 2012
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Pricing intelligence company Profitero works with retailers and manufacturers to help them increase sales and maximise their profits by using competitor price, promotions and stock information at scale. For more information on Profitero price intelligence and competitor monitoring, visit www.profitero.com or email sales@profitero.com.
