That’s French for “Black Friday,” because I am sooo clever! Anyway, after you’ve done your combat shopping, please head over to the MindField Online Facebook page and give us a report of what you’ve seen. Big crowds? Craziness? Better or worse than you expected? Let us know…and have a great weekend!
(photo: the churchofnopeople.com)
By the time we meet again, you will be ignoring this space and engaging in hand-to-hand combat at the mall. So, to kick off your battle planning, here are some gift idea links from around the web:
CNBC has this year’s top gadget gifts
Good Housekeeping picks this year’s best toys
Consumer Reports likes these electronic gifts
Help for Parents has a Top 10 gifts for kids list
Digital Crave picks the 5 best cell phones
Ask Men has a top 10 for her (relax, it was written by a woman!)
And hey, who’s hungry? Planning your Thanksgiving Day feast?
Consumer Reports names the best stuffing mixes
Epicurious picks the best frozen pumpkin pies
Here are the top 5 cranberry sauce recipes (from 2010, but hey)
Hope this helps! Have a great Thanksgiving Day. Remember to actually, you know, give thanks. And be careful on Black Friday- I don’t want to see you in a riot on YouTube!
(photo: wetcanvas.com)
The holiday season is all “peace on earth, goodwill toward men” and whatnot. But that feel good junk doesn’t fly in the world of retail – especially not between Amazon and Wal-Mart! Earlier this year, Wally dumped Amazon’s e-readers (Kindle, etc.) Why sell a device that gives you access to the competition’s online store?
Well, success is the best revenge, as they say. And a Bloomberg analysis tells the tale of the tape regarding toy prices this season – toys being the most popular item that accounts for the most spending.
In a comparison of 125 randomly selected toys conducted on Nov. 8, Amazon had lower prices than Wal-Mart on 44 percent of the items, while Wal-Mart had the advantage on 13 percent. The remaining had the same price tag. Wal-Mart beat Target, Kmart and Toys “R” Us on more than 80 percent of the toys. Bloomberg.com
Wal-Mart and Amazon basically swapped the #1 and #2 slots from last year.
The study says that, in general, retailers will have better inventory than last year. Right now, Amazon is fully stocked on those 125 items, while Wally was out of about 3%. But don’t get complacent! Last year, on December 21, Amazon was out of stock on 1% of the items, while Wal-Mart and the rest were down by 40%.
So, how about you? Have you bought your toys and electronics (the other big draw) online in past years? Will you start this year? Let us know!
Have you seen that nightmare YouTube video of the redneck Wal-Mart warehouse guys “playing catch” with your iPad, laughing with glee when it smashes on the ground? Go on, Google it (but NOT at work.)
Anyway, those three ding-dongs got fired (because they posted the video online, durr.) But thousands of Wal-Mart and Target employees remain, and they all have to work on Thanksgiving. Are they mad enough to destroy your merchandise? Probably not, but I wouldn’t count on any surplus of smiles.
Imagine you’re at mom’s, packing away the turkey and giblets, watching Dallas and Detroit and generally having a good time. Then at 8pm, you have to head to work for the next 16 hours. “But I’m still full of turkey – and resentment!”
Last year, a Target employee gathered 200,000 signatures on a petition to stop the retailer from opening at 11pm Thanksgiving night. If you read the Target guy’s statement, he is careful to say that he LIKES Target. They give back to the community, support charities, etc. He just thinks they’re going a little nutty with the Black Friday business.
Target responded, “You’re right, 11pm is dumb. Let’s open at 9pm instead!” Meanwhile, in a touching show of solidarity, Wal-Mart will open at 8pm.
Sign of the times, I guess. There will always be retailers looking for an advantage, employees willing to work and shoppers looking for that big score. If that’s you, here is a guide to Black Friday opening times, if your conscience can stand it (it can.) Happy hunting!
Ladies, be warned. Marketers have cracked the Girl Code. Millions of dollars have been spent to discover the secret of reaching women. You ready? Here it is: Color it pink and play on your insecurities.
We’ll let that sink in for a moment, like a moisturizing cream that erases fine lines and age spots.
One of the big-name ink pen companies has a For Her line. If you’re an Ellen fan, you know how that went over.
Said one reviewer: “For once, I don’t have to grip a giant, man-sized pen just to sign receipts at Saks. And the ink just hits the paper so smoothly, not at all like the rough, gritty man ink in normal pens.”
Meanwhile, Honda has a version of the Fit subcompact called “She’s.” Its lady-centric approach? It’s pink, its AC won’t dry your skin and its anti-UV glass will help prevent wrinkles.
The review is in: “Stupid name, awful color, everyone needs protection from the sun’s rays, and if they want to market to women, they need to think leg to pedal ratio, especially clutch, so you don’t have to scoot the seat all the way up to the steering wheel.”
I guess the point is that pink is nice, but that can’t be the only selling point.
Final example: I used to do marketing for a handgun company.
They had a line of handguns For Her, in pink and lavender. But they weren’t JUST cute; they were smaller, lighter and with slightly less firepower so that – get this – women could actually USE them. We didn’t ignore Pink, we just turned it around: “Why is it pink? So your husband won’t want to borrow it!” Now THAT’S marketing to women!
Here are a couple of articles on the topic, from Today Show online: Here and Here. Check ’em out, have a great weekend and always remember to ask if it comes in pink!
(photos: news.yahoo.com and charterfirearms.com)
Of course, Black Friday draws near – the big bargain day for combat shoppers. But the rest of November is no slouch, as retailers try to grab your attention in the days leading up to the madness.
Here, from DealNews.com, is a list of some of your best November buys:
Those are just some highlights of good buys. What’s NOT an especially great buy in November – or, not really any better than other times? Tablets. Turns out Amazon and others are basically giving them away already, selling them at cost, and making their money on the digital media you buy.
Lots more useful info at the original article, so check it out!
Here is a roundup of articles from around the web highlighting consumer scams, helpful recovery tips, ways businesses are trying help…and ways they aren’t!
For a lot of folks, life won’t be returning to normal for a while. Hopefully tips like these will help.
(photo: NASA)
We got hacked a couple of years ago, and it was the weirdest thing. Somebody hacked B*st W*st*rn Hotels, where we had stayed in Ohio a couple of years earlier, and got our credit card number. But the hacker was some kind of weirdo Robin Hood character, robbing from the underemployed to feed the poor. We started getting Thank You notes from the Red Cross and the USO, acknowledging our contributions!
Now, this week in South Carolina, the Secret Service discovered that somebody has hacked the S.C. Department of Revenue! Social Security numbers, tax records… they aren’t even sure what has been jacked!
What is interesting is that the State is reacting by offering free credit monitoring by Experian.
Plenty of S.C. taxpayers were nervous over the weekend, flooding lines set up by Experian, the California-based firm hired to provide ID theft protection for taxpayers. The company added operators Monday, though it still was suggesting the fastest way to register for ID theft protection was to register online. Those who need to sign up for protection can do so until Jan. 31.
The state of S.C., via Experian, is offering a year of free credit report monitoring, which can be used to help even with past problems found in credit histories. But crooks could use the stolen data for many years. The State (SC)
I guess the lesson for me is this: I always said “Who would ever hack little ol’ me?” The answer is NOBODY. But they would sure as heck would hack the motel chain or the restaurant chain where you use your Visa card. I don’t know if I am even affected but, trust me, I am registering TOMORROW. And maybe you should, too. Other than Experian, names include LifeLock and EquiFax.
Have you or someone you know ever been hacked? What did you do?
This is not so much a consumer piece, other than, as we reported earlier, you’re going to spend $80 per kid this Halloween and you would like to get them home in one piece.
When I was a kid, Halloween safety consisted of my dad telling me not to accept any apples, because hippies were hiding their drug needles in them. “That’s it! Now go run in the night streets in your dark gray Batman costume!”
So, to pay it forward, I will share a few Halloween safety tips from the National Safety Council.
Motorists: BE COOL! Seriously, I don’t even have kids, but I spend half the night screaming at the idiots driving 45mph on my street!
Parents: Basically it’s your job to suck all the fun out of it. Make your kids tell you their precise route. Give them a curfew time. And make them wear bright or reflective clothing, even if it ruins their Zombie costume.
Kids: Use some common sense! Don’t go to dark houses. Don’t eat your stuff until mom inspects it and steals the Kit Kats. Carry dad’s best flashlight, which you will surely break. And stay out of the abandoned mill, even if they dare you!
OK, enough sarcasm. You should download the list. There are tons of great tips to keep Halloween safe. The alternative is a “Trunk or Treat” in the middle school parking lot…and nobody wants that!
(photo: springsgov.com)
Thanksgiving 2012 is a mere 30 days away. Do you know what this means? Right, Black Friday is only 31 days away!
People have made a sport out of this pre-dawn ritual. Bursting through the doors at 5am, racing to the toy aisle, etc. It’s chaotic and fun, but mostly chaotic. And in the chaos, mistakes are made, and returns become necessary. And returns can be a drag!
If you fail to read a store’s return policy before shopping there, you could get stuck with an item that doesn’t work out. But if you fail to read return policies before gift shopping, it’s a friend or relative who could get stuck with an unwanted item. MoneyTalksNews.com
So how do you learn about a store’s return policy? What are some warning signs? Which stores have the best and worst return policies? That’s the subject of this article. But briefly, the author likes Costco, LL Bean, Nordstrom and Zappos. Not so much love for Babies R Us, Macy’s Kohl’s or Toys R Us.
Lots of detail in the article, so check it out!