dla slepej kury, ziareko , wasner stan w kolejce moze sie zalapiesz
Adam Tomaszewski
poszukiwaniu wielkich oszczednosci , wielu obudzi sie z reka w
ownie ! narodzie, kiedy sie przebudzisz? , kiedy usmiadomisz siebie
ze za glupka cie robia? ile raze trzeba cie przekonywac zes idiota
dla "elit" ?
Here are a few things bargain-hungry consumers need to know before
they hit stores before dawn the day after Thanksgiving.
Here's a Black Friday reality check: Of the hordes of pre-dawn
shoppers who line up for hours outside stores on the day after
Thanksgiving, most will not bag the best bargains that appear in
merchants' circulars.
Look at the fine print that appears next to an advertised "doorbuster
deal" at the bottom of the page in this year's circulars.
More from CNNMoney.com:
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• Target's Black Friday Bet: $3 Appliances
It will either say "While supplies last," "Minimum 2 per store," "No
rainchecks" or "All items are available in limited quantities."
A quick scan through a few of this year's Black Friday circulars show
quantities as low as a "minimum of 5 per store" on some models of
large plasma and HDTVs and popular brands of home appliances such as a
washer-dryer pair.
Should Black Friday deal hunters feel cheated? Yes they should, say
some retail experts.
"It's a sleazy practice," said Craig Johnson, retailing expert and
president of retail consulting group Customer Growth Partners.
"I am old school," said Johnson. "If a retailer is advertising a juicy
deal and they are not prepared to have in sufficient quantity, don't
advertise it. Or give consumers a raincheck."
Johnson said it's not enough for retailers to mention that they'll
have such limited quantities of a product on one of the most-hyped
shopping days of the year.
"Retailers aren't winning any customers. They are just pissing off
people," he said. "It's poor retailing practice."
Unfortunately for consumers, more examples abound.
CNNMoney.com spoke to industry experts to uncover a few dirty secrets
of Black Friday deals.
Limited quantities: Advertising a Black Friday deal as "limited
quantities" is bogus, said Johnson.
"The only time it makes sense to have only two or three [items] in
stock is if the deal is on a $2 million gift product that appears in
the Neiman Marcus holiday catalog," he said.
Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate and editor of Consumer World,
agreed with Johnson.
"C'mon guys. Give me a break," said Dworsky. "How can you be the size
of a retailer like Sears and only get a minimum of five per store, yet
devote big space in your circular to advertise that deal?
Sears (SHLD, Fortune 500) has not officially revealed its Black Friday
sales. However, the company confirmed to CNNMoney.com that two of its
post-Thanksgiving deals include a Samsung 40-inch 1080p LCD HDTV for
$599.99, "Only while quantities last, minimum three per store, no
rainchecks."
The other is a Kenmore 3.5-cubic-foot high-efficiency washer and 5.8-
cubic foot dryer pair for $579.98, "Limit four per store, no
rainchecks."
"Sure, you probably have more, but how do you put out a circular to
millions of households and only have three?," Dworsky asked.
When asked for a comment, Sears spokesman Tom Aiello said he was "not
comfortable" addressing the issue of limited quantities for some Black
Friday deals.
Such short supply on deals are not only annoying but can also be
dangerous to Black Friday shoppers.
"We saw the stampede at a Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) store in New
York last year on Black Friday that led to an employee's death," said
Burt Flickinger, managing director of consulting firm Strategic
Resource Group. "The stampede happened because so many of the deals
were advertised as limited supply."
One retailer, while not explaining why its advertised deals are in
such limited supplies, said it is taking measures to better handle the
Black Friday rush.
"From going down the line and handing out doorbuster tickets that
guarantee a purchase in advance of the store opening, to printing the
minimum quantities in the circular, we go to great lengths to ensure
that the Black Friday consumer knows exactly how many items will be at
the store and whether or not they will be able to purchase one prior
to entering the store," Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500) wrote in an e-
mail.
What do you mean this HDTV is a "derivative?" Some of the holiday
electronics with those low sale prices are derivatives, models that
have a few less features than a standard model in that product line,
said Dworsky.
The difference can be subtle. "The image contrast ratio might be
20,000 in a derivative model versus 30,000 in a standard model," he
said. "Most consumers probably won't even notice the difference."
A report earlier this month in Consumer Reports called attention to
HDTV models from Samsung and Sony advertised in Black Friday deals
that appear to be "derivatives." The report said these one-off TVs
"with unfamiliar model numbers" are usually cheaper than the standard
model in their class.
Dworsky cautions that retailers usually don't advertise these models
as derivatives. "There's no way the average consumer will know that
the TV model they are buying is not the standard one unless they are
savvy enough to compare their model numbers," he said.
Which Black Friday deals are online? "Many retailers will say that
their Black Friday deals are available online," said Dworsky. "But
they're not nice enough to tell you which ones."
"How about telling me which exact ones so I can shop online from home
and I'm not in my pajamas at 5 a.m. in front of your store," he said.
Online deals that never get shipped: Case in point: Sears. Last year,
one of Sears' hottest Black Friday doorbuster deal was on a Kenmore
washer-dryer pair for $600.
Even though the retailer advertised that deal to be in "limited
quantities," the company decided to honor every customer order made on
that deal last Black Friday.
Big mistake. The manufacturer could not ramp up production fast
enough. Some customers waited months before their order was shipped.
Others were sold a substitute model, that was "comparable or even
better" for the same deal price, said Sears' Aiello.
Lesson learned. "We will not be doing that again this year," he said.
Be careful if you're shopping online on Black Friday, said Dworsky.
"Since retailers don't have a live inventory online you run the risk
of getting an e-mail weeks later that your order had been delayed or
worse, canceled, because the product is out of stock," he said.
About those rainchecks: Finally, if a retailer does offer you a
raincheck on a deal, it could still turn out to be an empty promise,
Flickinger warned.
"A raincheck doesn't guarantee that you will eventually get that
elusive Black Friday deal," he said. "Consumers can go weeks waiting
and hoping, and the retailer may never get more of the product shipped
to its stores."
Copyrighted, CNNMoney. All Rights Reserved.
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