So it's almost Thanksgiving. Back in the good ol' days, as soon as everyone had stuffed themselves with Turkey and pecan pie, the guys would retire to the den to watch TV, and the girls would pull out the newspaper ads and start plotting their early morning shopping spree on Friday. The retailers called it "Black Friday." The girls treated it as a matter of pride - who could get up the earliest, and come home with the most stuff.
Well, actually, that's still happening, and if you really want to, you can even begin your Black Friday shopping at some stores like Wal-Mart and Target and Best Buy. You can even preview their ads online at those links.
About six years ago, an alternative to Black Friday began to emerge as the popularity of online shopping was growing; it was called Cyber Monday. It was discovered that a lot of people really started their serious online shopping when they got back to their desks at work on Monday morning. So, the retailers, never wanting to miss an opportunity to make sales, started also marketing to these folks, and have continued to do so over the last several years.
Of course we all know what happens if too many people log into one website at one time, so over time, the "Cyber Monday" phenomenon has turned into "cyber week." Cyber week is still a developing concept. For some retailers, it starts on Black Friday, or even right before Thanksgiving, and for others it starts on Cyber Monday. Most of the ads run through the next weekend (about 10 days after Thanksgiving).
For some families, the getting up early on Friday morning after Thanksgiving is a tradition, and a way to get most of their Christmas shopping done early. And, of course, some people just still aren't comfortable with using their credit cards (or a third-party service like PayPal) online. But those of us who happen to LOVE shopping online are apt to really get into this cyber-week thing.
The Santa hat is optional.
Happy Thanksgiving to your and yours from all of us here at WebRevelation!
Those who are still rushing around getting things together for Christmas tomorrow might not be feeling extremely jolly at the moment. So, here's an alternative idea that might cheer you up. If you haven't bought that "perfect" gift yet, or can't get a good price on it - just give your loved one an I.O.U., and get the item on sale AFTER Christmas.
In England, Canada, and Australia, the day after Christmas is called "Boxing Day," and it's almost as important as Christmas itself. There's a running joke that the reason it's called "Boxing Day," is because that's the day everyone boxes up all of the Christmas gifts and takes them back to the store. The real reason goes back to the day when wealthy people had servants who were very busy on Christmas. The servants would be allowed to prepare "boxed" meals for their employers' family for the day after Christmas, so they could finally spend some time at home to enjoy the holiday with their own families.
In the U.S., there's is also a lot of taking stuff back to the store for refunds and exchanges on the day after Christmas. But now, just as with online Christmas shopping, there is an increasing number of people who are handling their boxing day activities online as well. Just search Cyber Boxing Day, to join the fun. Hey, if your family won't take an I.O.U. for after Christmas sales, at least maybe you can find a little something for yourself...? Ho ho ho!
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking.
Gift cards are becoming more and more popular as gifts, as people are now able to keep them longer without fees, and use many of them for online or in-store purchases. Still, it is almost inevitable that we're eventually going to receive one or more of these cards that we simply aren't going to use, because we don't shop that retailer, or there isn't even one in our area.
FoxNews (video above) is reporting this week that sites that allow shoppers to trade or cash-in their gift cards is a growing business. For example, Plastic Jungle, a site mentioned in the report (video above), allows shoppers to cash in their unwanted cars for up to 92% of the balance. This allows the site to keep 8% or more of the balance of the card (they DO need to clear a profit, after all), and still allows the customer to receive most of the value of the gift they were given on something they actually want (cash, or merchandise they actually need). Those wanting to purchase gift cards can do so for up to 30% off, saving money (and who doesn't like saving money?). So, win-win, right?
Of course, all of this can be avoided by purchasing Visa debit cards as gift cards from your bank - they work like cash, and can be used anywhere.
Jennifer Pointer (e-mail) is in Tulsa, OK. She promotes a simple, a low-tech approach to effective online profile management, search engine optimization and social networking.
