Black Friday is at the corner but there is not much excitement among retailers and shop owners because they are afraid that the ongoing economic downturn would fail to generate the expected level of profit. Black Friday, the next day after Thanksgiving, which is considered to be the official starting day of Christmas shopping, is the biggest shopping day and retailers basically make around forty percent of their yearly profit during this time.
Interestingly, time is also against the retailers this year, because this year the Black Friday is going to be held on November 28, 2008, five days later than last year. This just shortens the shopping season by nearly a week.
The “Black Friday 2008” is going to start the “leanest Christmas season” in last 17 years. Retailers have not started to fill up their inventory in fear of poor sales. Greg Hobbs, co-owner, Flegles Ace and Radio Shack said,
"We pretty much just consider ourselves to be in survival mode."
Leading retail industry research firm, TNS, projected a poor sales growth of 1.5% compared to the 1.2% of the 1991 economic slowdown. The research firm predicted that supercenters and warehouse clubs are going to be on the top spots and discount department stores are going to struggle to stay profitable. The National Retail Federation predicted a growth of 1.9% increased in the fourth quarter compared to last year.
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