Prepping for Black Friday stories

By Flickr user djlicious

Thanksgiving shopping stories tend to focus on the early morning rush, the hot deals of the day or on a series of shopper vignettes. Then, over the weekend, the retail writer does a financial round-up of sales at local malls and big-box retailers. Well-told, those articles can be informative and compelling, but they do get a little stale.

But tipsheet reader Grace Gagliano, a business writer for Florida’s Bradenton Herald, notes that “the economy will still factor into how consumers are spending but I don’t want to feel like I am writing the same story as last year.”

She has a point. And since there are still several weeks to prepare, consider an alternative approach.

Thanksgiving Day sales. Retailers increasingly are open on the Thursday, as are online retailers hoping to snare those who want to stay home, digest and watch the Detroit Lions traditional game. What are the pros and cons of holiday sales for consumers, staffers and competitors?

Reader participation. The narrative tension between now and the Dec. 26 clearance sales depends largely on the paradox of cash-strapped, recession-fatigued consumers vs. merchants who are getting one last crack at salvaging the years’ sales.

It’s easier than ever for savvy consumers to map their shopping campaigns in advance. Many Web sites purport to leak advance intelligence on hot deals, including Black Friday.info and TheBlackFriday.com. Another consumer site, DealNews.com, has posted its 2009 Black Friday outlook.

Round up some shoppers willing to share their Black Friday spending strategies and track their actions to the penny. Delve into how their life circumstances have changed since last November and the resulting effect on their budget and quest for bargains.

Ask for specifics. Don’t be shy about requiring participants to dig up last year’s credit card statements and recount exactly what they spent on the same day last year. Compare that to this year’s list and, at the end of the day, the actual total. If you do this with half a dozen or so participants you’ll put in a lot of legwork but the result will be a nice little snapshot of what retailers are up against this year.

Vary the POV. Instead of telling the tale from the consumer point of view, show the day from the perspective of store workers or others.

It took me years to live down my first Thanksgiving weekend on the retailing beat, when my editor demanded I work the 6 a.m. shift at Target and then dash in to write a story about it. A few years later, a colleague did her stint as an elf or Santa’s helper at the mall.

Make arrangement to shadow a shopping center manager for the day, or work the gift-wrap kiosk in your regional mall, or otherwise show readers the behind-the-scenes scope of the day. Quantify it – have the mall chief wear a pedometer, measure the rolls of ribbon, time the average transaction at the big-box customer service desk.

Non-merchants. How are restaurants and non-traditional retailers angling for their share of the Black Friday pie? Check local chambers of commerce, direct-mail campaigns and other grass-roots sources to see what promotions are afoot.

This earlier tipsheet about buy-local campaigns is worth a second glance, too, for sources of Main Street merchandising info.

Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.