Black Friday has always marked the beginning of Christmas shopping. In the United States, most stores offer large discounts on their products, similar to Canada’s Boxing Day sale. On Black Friday, I was Skype-ing with my sister, who lives in the United States, and she told me about how she had planned to buy a new television, and how she had just managed to purchase one of the few remaining ones. While this is understandable due to the high volume on demand from consumers, I also found this to be slightly peculiar because my sister mentioned that she had waken up very early so that she could go online to look for the best deals. I did not understand why the stock of a product would be very low even BEFORE Black Friday had begun. My sister explained to me that many stores reward their loyal customers by giving them early access to their Black Friday sales, thus explaining why some products may have been lower in inventory. I was quite intrigued by this idea; if signing up for a store’s membership card is free, why wouldn’t everyone sign up for them?
Upon further research, I found an article explaining EXACTLY what was happening.This article (#6) explains that my way of thinking was exactly how the companies wanted me to think. While I was preoccupied thinking that I would be able to secure a better deal by signing up for a membership card, the article explains that in doing so I am actually giving the store more of my information.
On a side note: the article, not just the sixth reason, is quite an interesting read!