Thanksgiving and Christmas: A time of giving or a time of marketing?

Did you know the day after Thanksgiving has its own website? Yes, I am talking about Black Friday and there is indeed a BlackFriday.com. This website offers an array of information, possibly all you need to know, to prepare and make your game plan for Black Friday because going into Black Friday without a game plan could end up being a bit too intense.

       The promotion for Black Friday is incredible.  Promotion is aimed more for Black Friday than for the actual holiday of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving appears to be the holiday marketing forgot probably mostly because it has to do with food, but due to Black Friday it is one of the most hyped up and active shopping times of the year due to promotion. I honestly have not seen  and heard so many television and radio commercials, newspaper and magazine coupons, and posters and billboards all aimed at one specific individual day.

        It is a mad rush and a switch flips literally as soon as Thanksgiving is over to prepare for Christmas. This the rush began not even after Thanksgiving ended, but more of right after Thanksgiving dinner ended. I saw numerous Macy's Black Friday commercials, advertising that doors opened 6...PM! Technically  opening on Thanksgiving, every year stores are trying to out do each other with their Black Friday sales and who can open the earliest.

       The Christmas season is a time in which advertisements are through the roof.  Sales, discounts, etc. is all you hear about when you turn on the television. This shows the temporal and seasonal effects on marketing. Usually sales are advertised, but during this time of year it is amplified to say the least. People want to get the perfect gift and exactly what their loved one's want...but at the lowest price possible. Pricing a product is an extremely important aspect of marketing. If the price is too high people do not want to buy it, and if it is too low you will lose money. That is why finding a happy medium and a perfect price is sometimes so hard to achieve.

      During this time of year stores and marketing definitely use the desperation of shoppers to their advantage by playing around with pricing, sales, and discounts. It is important to remember that there are a lot of aspects businesses have to keep in consideration when this time of year rolls around. Around the holiday and Christmas season I'm sure the 4 P's are a company's and marketer's best friend. Needless to say marketer's are probably stressed out during this time of year. Here are some things they have to consider...

• What products do they want to put on sale and offer discounts on?
• What is the extent of these discounts?
• Are they enough to make a consumer happy and still be beneficial to the business?
• What are their prices and sales compared to their competition?
• What about the online aspect? Online sales and competition are important too!
• What sort of advertisements do they want to put out?
• Seasonal and holiday themed? Focused on the deals being offered? 
• What outlets do they want to use for promotion?
• TV, radio, newspaper, billboards, magazines, etc.?
• What locations and distribution outlets do companies want their product being put in during this time of year?
• Is a greater variety of products going to be offered? More colors? Themed for the holidays?

Those are just a few general questions that marketers may consider. I'm sure there are so many more that go into much greater detail.

To sum up this post, marketing is important all of the time not just during holidays. However, holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas are temporal and seasonal factors that definitely up the ante when it comes to marketing. I think it is important to remember overall the Christmas season is a time of giving and to be thankful. Hopefully when we are out shopping for our loved ones we remember that! Instead of turning into discount and sale hungry animals.