Five Retail Trends on Black Friday

Black Friday, so named because it was the day retailers hoped to get “in the black” for the fiscal year, is now just as linked to the color of the sky when it all begins. Shoppers emerge before dawn—and this year, even earlier—to seek out jaw-dropping deals.

But technology has changed the way consumers shop on the day after Thanksgiving too. Here are five trends to watch for.

Skipping the Checkout Line

During the busy holiday season, two out of three consumers find it valuable to have more associates on the sales floor instead of doing other front-of-store tasks, such as staffing checkout lanes, recent research conducted by the NPD Group for NCR Corp. found.

Apple, often a leader in retail trends, has already added an "easy pay" option that allows iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S users to scan the barcode of an accessory while in a store, and complete the transaction using the same credit card information tied to their Apple ID. Sears and Kmart customers can use QR codes to allow purchases to be made directly on smartphones. Urban Outfitters is deploying mobile point-of-sale devices on the sales floor to help customers avoid lines.

The NPD Group survey results also found that hand-held devices are becoming increasingly important as a customer service tool, with half of respondents preferring to receive assistance from sales associates that have tablets and smartphones in their hands. Employees armed with these devices can check prices, locate items, help customers compare products and sometimes even let customers check out remotely.

How well any of this will work on Black Friday, that most chaotic of days, remains to be seen, but at least some retailers will be trying.

Taking It Mobile

A record number of consumers will shop from their mobile device this holiday season, finds IBM Coremetrics Benchmark, which analyzed October 2011 data from more than 500 leading U.S. retailers. The data shows that 10.7 percent of people who logged onto a retailer’s site used a mobile device, up from the 4.2 percent recorded in October 2010.

Plus, mobile users are not just browsing idly. Sales from mobile devices hit a high of 9.6 percent in October 2011, up from 3.4 percent in October 2010. The IBM data shows that iPad users are most likely to pull the trigger on purchases, with conversion rates (the rate at which browsers become buyers) reaching 6.8 percent as compared to the overall mobile device conversion rate of 3.6 percent. Amazon’s new tablet the Kindle Fire, fully integrated with its website, is likely to have a big impact too, points out Fiona Dias, e-commerce expert and chief strategy officer for ShopRunner, who says that 15 percent of all searches made on Black Friday will come from mobile devices.

Let’s not forget the role of comparison shopping on the fly. Online comparison shopping site Nextag says half a billion people visit its sites each year, and since last year, it’s seen the number of users doing so via tablet, PDA and handheld category rise by 500 percent.

Clipping Online Coupons

Whether shopping online every week or a few times a year, consumers are more likely than ever to use online coupon sites to save. A recent Ipsos telephone survey commissioned by Offers.com found that 74 percent of frequent online shoppers plan to look for online coupons and coupon codes in 2011, versus 63 percent in 2010. That could benefit coupon sites such as Coupons.com, which has a new platform that helps brands bring deals to Facebook, or sites like CouponCodes.com, which came up with special codes for Black Friday, or Drop Down Deals, an app that provides online shoppers with coupon codes while they are online shopping.

Gifting With Daily Deals

Daily deal companies such as Groupon and LivingSocial are ramping up their holiday offerings and given their extensive email lists and captive audience of fans looking for everyday deals, the results could be significant. Groupon has revived its Grouponicus offers—including merchandise like $19 electric blankets and experiences like a $99 high speed drive in a Ferrari or Lamborghini.

Meanwhile, LivingSocial announced Monday a series of national deals, including a deal on Verizon Wireless that for $25 gives buyers $50 to spend toward devices or accessories. Of course, daily deal sites that offer experiences versus goods are playing up those offerings, with one site, Zozi, playing up the fact that by offering gifts such as a $135 sailing cruise for two with cooking lessons and cocktails, its site isn’t forcing retail workers to work on Thanksgiving, something that companies like Target have taken heat over.

Cyber Monday Creep

On Cyber Monday, the deals that didn’t take place in stores will continue on the Internet with retailers putting out their best online deals. Kenneth Wisnefski, an online marketing expert and founder / CEO of WebiMax says that the Internet continues to be a holiday season game changer. Enriched by social media and online reviews, among other features, e-commerce is displacing the traditional in-store shopping experience.

The 2010 statistics for Cyber-Monday versus Black-Friday (online versus in-store), show that Cyber Monday experienced 16 percent growth to just over $1 billion in online revenue, whereas Black Friday revenue only experienced a small increase of 0.3 percent compared to 2009, says Wisnefski. “The simple fact is that it is more convenient, consumers can read online reviews, and compare products and purchase from the comfort of their own home (not to mention they don’t have to deal with holiday crowds)." Daily deal player LivingSocial is in on Cyber Monday when it will offer $200 worth of merchandise from online jeweler Blue Nile for $100. Gilt is offering members deals on party dresses from JayGodfrey.com: to receive a $200 credit, users pay $100. A PriceGrabber Survey revealed that 39 percent of consumers plan to shop that day, up from 37 percent in 2010, nearly reaching the 40 percent of consumers who plan to go shopping on Black Friday. The top motivation: virtually all Cyber Monday shoppers will be drawn in by one-day deals, discounts and free shipping, 84 percent will shop from home, 12 percent will shop from work (or at least admit to doing so) and 4 percent will shop from a mobile device.

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Teresa Novellino writes for Portfolio.com