Black Friday 2012: Deals or No Deals for Consumers?

More Black Friday criticism emerges as we approach what has been dubbed "the busiest shopping day of the year", a title many would disagree with. Time Magazine reported that the Sunday before Christmas is actually the busiest shopping day of the year, which means that not everyone finishes their Christmas shopping a month in advance. Some retail analysts have even gone as far as to call Black Friday "irrelevant". This may sound shocking, especially since sales figures show that more and more people spend money shopping on Black Friday, each year.

Time has put together a short list of reasons why Black Friday is losing terrain, in spite of the growing number of people who shop on this day. One important reason is that most doorbusters and significant discounts apply only to a limited number of products, and usually run out before everyone interested has purchased an item. In the grand scheme of retailing, doorbusters have a relatively small significance, and many shoppers who came for the product in question will actually end up buying something entirely different, and obviously, more expensive.

As many of us have noticed, holiday sales start way before Black Friday, with many retailers offering different kinds of deals each month. In 2011, the holiday shopping season started in September for many retailers, while in 2012, Christmas layway promotions were first announced around Labor Day.

Research from RetailMeNot has dubbed the months leading up to Christmas as the OctoNovemCember season, after examining consumer trends and finding out that a lot of people prefer to shop really early, in an attempt to avoid the high prices preceding Christmas day.

According to Jill Balis, operator of RetailMeNot.com, 40% of consumers start their holiday season shopping in October. Their study also showed that an overwhelming majority of people would be more likely to make a purchase when a deal is available, which can only mean one thing for retailers - offer more deals, preferably all the time, not just on Black Friday. Consequently, it's not uncommon to find some sort of discount or sale on any day of the year, especially via specialized websites that can assist bargain hunters.