The Dirty Secret of Black Friday 'Discounts'

[tailfins]

How Retailers Concoct 'Bargains' for the Holidays and Beyond


When shoppers head out in search of Black Friday bargains this week, they won't just be going to the mall, they'll be witnessing retail theater. .....
....in many cases, those bargains will be a carefully engineered illusion.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304281004579217863262940166

[jimnyc]

I've always believed it all to be an illusion. They aren't opening to be nice to customers and break even, they are in it to profit. They sell things that should have been marked down already, they advertise things that have extremely limited quantities to lure people in. Then there are brand name products that sell an inferior product at certain places. Like Home Depot for example, they will sell a Dewalt drill that won't be as good as a Dewalt sold at your local hardware store. These places get deals with the manufacturers and have things built to just sell at their locations. Kinda like how drug stores sell their versions of popular medicines and such, like aspirin, which if you look at the ingredients they are almost the same.

Rushing out into the weather to help these places profit even more isn't something I'll do. I still say, look around online, do your due diligence on your product, then buy it online from a trusted vendor and have it shipped, likely free for the holidays.