Business Expert Sees Bright Season For Area's Brick-and-Mortar Retailers
VILLANOVA, Pa. (CBS) -- "Black Friday," as the name suggests, is the day that retailers begin to turn a profit for the year, changing red ink to black. That's their hope, anyway, especially in this tough economy.
Not to be outdone by web-based competitors, brick-and-mortar businesses have been "leaking" Black Friday ads earlier this year than in years past, and many are opening up shop while the turkey's still digesting.
"Thanksgiving Day used to be a 'demilitarized zone' for retailers," says Eric Karson, associate professor of marketing at the Villanova University School of Business, "because they of course realized their hardworking salespeople want to spend time with their families. But they've made the difficult decision to encroach on that, to fight back against this onslaught of online promotion."
Karson says that while there's not a "blockbuster" item on everyone's list this year, the shopping forecast looks good for those on both sides of the dollar bill.
"Overall, the sales trends look rather positive. As always, I think the online marketers are going to show double-digit growth, maybe in the mid- to upper teens. I think the traditional brick-and-mortar retailers are going to see growth in the single digits, probably below five percent. But that's better than prior years -- it used to be that 'flat' was 'up'; this year, I think that 'up' is going to be 'up.' I think there is going to be a year-over-year increase," he tells KYW Newsradio.
But he says, though, that's in part because those who have been unemployed since last Black Friday have already had their spending counted out of this holiday.
Reported by Ian Bush, KYW Newsradio 1060
