Black Friday Scorecard

As planned, I spent the better part of Black Friday morning at home. After catching up with the local news and determining that it was safe to venture out to the malls, I made my way to the shops hoping to buy cheap DVDs.

Top on my list were The pursuit of happyness and The good shepherd, which I had seen in the Best Buy adverts. Unlike any other Black Friday's, when I got to Best Buy, there was not a single DVD worth less than $9.99 in this particular store. Disappointed at missing out on the two movies, I made my way to the near-by Walmart store. At Walmart it was a different story. Even though they still had several shelves stocked with cheap movies, none of them appealed to me as they were the titles that Walmart sells throughout the year for $5 (plus tax). Circuit City was a bigger disappointment. Unlike last year when I purchased 3 DVDs for less than $15, most of their DVDs were priced higher than the movies in the other two stores. If anything, I could have bought the same movies for less at Walmart. Makes me wonder who bought DVDs at Circuit City.

Expecting to return home empty handed, I reluctantly made my way to Target. To my surprise, they had most of their advertised movies in stock. Unfortunately Will Smith's Pursuit Of Happyness was sold out as it seemed to have been one of the most sought after DVD. Among the titles that I bought at Target was Morgan Freeman's The Shawshank Redemption. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to own this movie on DVD as it is one of my favorite movies. Paying $3.98 (plus tax) instead of the usual $10 plus that it retails for made my trip worthwhile.

Black Friday Score Card

Store	Score
Walmart	C
Sam's Club	D
Best Buy	B
Target	B+
Circuit City	E
Home Depot	C+
Toys R Us	B

While at the stores, I had a chance to browse through and I thought that most of the items were not being sold at any discount. With the exception of the portable SatNav systems, there was nothing to write home about the Black Friday sales. In some instances, I thought the deals were priced much higher than normal. For example, Best Buy was selling the Cars movie for $19.99 while I bought at the same Best Buy store for $17 and change when it when it was released last year. Though I would never buy Borat, it was selling for anywhere between $4.99 to $15.99 depending on where you bought it. Just goes to show that the games retailers employ to trick shoppers into thinking that they are getting huge discounts.

It would shock me if Black Friday was a not a success because most shoppers seemed to leave the stores empty handed while the store fronts and car parks were not as littered as the previous years. This could be blamed on the overall macro-economic climate that has consumers worried but to some extent the manufacturers are also to blame. In all the stores that I visited, except for the touch screen iPod, there were hardly any new introductions this year. Even Microsoft's bulky 30 Gig Zune player has not been upgraded though the price has been reduced from $249 (plus tax) to $199 (plus tax). As it stands, the only new product cycle is the Mac OS which will mostly benefit Apple Inc.

If this years Black Friday is a preview of next year, then we can expect some downside in technology and retail stocks. With the exception of Apple who have revamped their products, every one else may be forced to slash their prices so as to move their inventory. Unlike last year when shoppers couldn't get enough of TMX Elmo, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii and a host of other products, there was nothing exciting in the stores this year.

Addendum; I have never seen so many shoppers drinking coffee. Almost 2 out of every 10 shoppers had a coffee cup in their hands as they made their way to the shops from their cars. Thanks to the freezing temperatures, Starbucks and it's competitors must have racked in a good amount of sales. Starbucks and McDonald's may benefit the most if this trend is to continue during this winter shopping season.