West Hills, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/03/2013 -- Super Bowl 2014 weekend also referred to as the Super Bowl of 2014 shopping will be new this upcoming year.
A number of the leading players are adding extra shopping time with stores opening on Thanksgiving and round-the-clock operations into Friday night. At Willowbrook Mall in Wayne, where most of the stores will open at midnight, and a "midnight madness" shopping event with a DJ and prizes is planned, the busiest time of the weekend is expected to be 1 a.m. Friday, instead of 1 p.m.
Retailers are inviting consumers to comparison-shop on mobile phones and to demand price-matching at the checkout counter, or to use special phone apps to get on-the-spot discounts and deals.
The Conference Board reported that U.S. consumer confidence declined to a seven-month low of 70.4 percent, from 72.4 percent in October.
Jeff Green, president and chief executive of Phoenix-based consulting firm Jeff Green Partners said, "The problem is Black Friday is so late, so there are fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and one less weekend. That combined with the fact that Hanukkah begins Wednesday night means that those who are Jewish have already completed their holiday shopping. Then you've got the fact that retailers were very disappointed with back-to-school sales and Halloween sales, so they got started on their Christmas sales especially early this year."
At the Target store in Paramus on Tuesday, District Team Leader Kevin Bryant was there at 8 a.m. to give employees a Black Friday pep talk and discuss the store's strategy for displaying the door-buster specials. At the Paramus store, workers were rushing around Tuesday to prepare for a traditional Black Friday opening, at 7 a.m. Most Target stores around the country will open at 8 p.m. Thanksgiving and stay open into Friday. But because Paramus ordinances prevent stores from staying open past 11 p.m. or opening before 7 a.m., the Paramus store, like most retailers in the borough, opted to wait until Friday morning to open.
Don Dent, manager of the Target in Paramus, said he expects shoppers to be lining up before the 7 a.m. opening. Last year, store employees wondered if Thanksgiving night openings would reduce the Black Friday crowds in Paramus, but the store had a line around the building at opening time.
The Target managers said part of their Black Friday plans include showing shoppers how they can use their smartphones to download Target's Cartwheel app, which gives them additional discounts they can claim at the cash register. Dent and store employees said they frequently see shoppers using their phones to check prices and research products.
Chief merchandising officer at Toys "R" Us, Richard Barry said that the price-matching program has been a hit with customers and it was very important for them that they are competitive for their customers and their strategy was not to sell just one single item.
Contact: John Danial Smith
Email: johndanialsmith@gmail.com
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