Essay about Holiday Shopping Nightmare

Andrew Leonard's "Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization" argues that the Black Friday shopping spree has begun to get out of hand in the previous years. Leonard explains that consumerism is a great thing for America, but showing Americans that it is okay to go crazy when shopping for deals is not the way to approach the buying markets. He mentions a Target advertisement and states that, "The Crazy Target Lady is not a joke. Watch her cannibalize her gingerbread man, or strategize her reverse psychology shopping techniques... she is America. She might be a lunatic, but it's a culturally approved lunacy" (Leonard 166). The author emphasizes how Americans embrace the acts of the target lady as funny and amusing, but during Black Friday shopping, some shoppers will take the night to the extreme like the advertisement does. He does remind us that there is light at the end of the tunnel, by reporting how shoppers are seeing the problems with the night of crazy shopping. I agree with Leonard that there are problems with Black Friday ads, and that consumers are realizing Black Friday shopping is taking away from Thanksgiving.

Black Friday shopping is a controversial issue in the United States; while many believe the day after Thanksgiving is a part of holiday festivities, others view it as destructive. Throughout “Black Friday: Consumerism Minus Civilization,” Andrew Leonard argues that the chaos of Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in which crowds of Americans shop all night for extremely low prices, lessens the sophistication of Americans and the true meaning of the holidays. People become so consumed in the idea of endless sale prices that they forget to embrace what they already have, such as family, food, and shelter. He believes that Black Friday shopping has become out of control and describes the negative effects of excessive consumerism. he explains how most consumers act completely insane while Black Friday shopping and how society encourages this behavior by creating commercials and advertisements. Furthermore, Leonard states that it hurts the economy and damages one’s mental health. While Leonard is probably wrong when he claims that Black Friday shopping is completely troublesome to America’s well-being, he is right that consumerism overpowers the true significance of Thanksgiving.

Never have I ever seen a car park so busy, but I wouldn't expect any less for christmas eve. Last minute shoppers and people going crazy after the last loaf of bread. Luckily for me and my wife, Molly, we have all of the twins' presents in and wrapped up ready for them to wake upto tomorrow.

The market also takes advantage on this holiday, even though the income from each product is a little bit less than the regular price, they tend to sell many products more than the regular business days. The market can also take advantage and sell products in which were not sold in the previous season. Black Friday is also good for advertising products. There were quite a few stores in the mall that were handing samples to try their product.

Quindlen starts her essay by stating that at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, New York, a worker was trampled to death by a horde of excited shoppers during Black Friday; the day after Thanksgiving when stores hold massive sales for the holiday season (Par. 2). She then goes on to talk about credit card debt and gives various examples of people buying different versions of items they

pressure on Birmingham's retailers during the Easter season, the second biggest shopping season of the

As Black Friday has progressed along with retailors marketing their products and their sales, it has become a national day of shopping to get the best deals. Americans mainly go shopping on this day to get huge deals for Christmas presents. Stores have even taken this great opportunity to open their establishments for 24 hours. Just last year, consumers spent a whopping $57,400,000,000 with each consumer individually spending $410 on average. The #1 retailor customers purchased from and camped out at was Best Buy. All of the statistics are based on 2013 and this year was projected to be an 11% increase.

In recent years, fewer people have been shopping outside (about 74 million in 2015 compared to 85 million in 2011), but the number is still large enough to pose a threat to the environment and retail worker happiness (TheBalance). Since there are people who will shop on Black Friday regardless, Buy Nothing Day may not be a permanent solution to overconsumption, but it could be the first step. The Mall of America, one of the largest shopping malls in the country, closed its doors on Thanksgiving to allow time for employees to spend time with their families (CNBC). If other retail leaders follow this example, Buy Nothing Day can become a reality. The more people that participate in raising awareness, the more others will realize that an obsession with consumerism is not beneficial for the

Most cities have huge shopping malls, which tempt city residents to go shopping any chance they can get. For a city dweller, shopping is a stress-reliever. For country dwellers, on the other hand, shopping can cause stress. People who live in the country

No no, our experience was one to remember! When we went to my school supplies we got out of the house and bam! You see the cars with traffic! It was horrific, getting through that many cars took us a 1hour instead of a 10-minute drive to get there it took us 1 FULL HOUR! When we finally got to staples I thought it would be more relaxed but NO, the line went out of the Staples store and like about 1 more store down! When I got my stuff the line kind of died down because it was going all the way through the back of the store but that was ok, I said to myself “Don't ever go to staples the night before school

Holiday season accounts for a large percentage of retail sales, and retailers are expecting an average increase of 6% in sales this year compared to 2014 sales numbers. This increase is driven by the popularity of online discounts. Brick-and-mortar retailers are not expected to be as successful as

When comparing two different ways of shopping most people do not even think about the difference, they do both and not even realize it. In today's society people shop while at work, after work and on the weekends, whenever time permits. Stop and think how can I get more time in the day for family or just myself? The best way to figure that out with all the recourses we have is to go into a store and spend time looking through racks and waiting in endless lines to just purchase something. I compared going into a store verses online shopping; to see which one will save you time and money.

Holidays have always been known to affect our consumer culture for many years, but how it all began eludes many people and very few studies have been completed on it. Even though some say that the subject is too broad to precisely identify how holidays, especially Christmas, directly affect our market, I have found that people’s values, expectations and rituals related to holidays can cause an excessive amount of spending among our society. Most people are unaware that over the centuries holidays have become such a profitable time of year for industries that they now starting to promote gift ideas on an average of a month and a half ahead of actual holiday dates to meet consumer demands.

The purpose of this research is to examine consumer behavior on Black Friday. Black Friday is typically the busiest shopping day of the year, and it is all driven by the chance for consumers to save the most amount of money possible while getting their holiday shopping done. Research was done online, and also through personal experiences. By understanding what retailers and consumers hope to accomplish on this day can have a positive impact on everyone. Consumers are able to get what they want with the least amount of turmoil, and retailers are able to turn a profit. This research can be most helpful to merchants, as it will help them to understand what a consumer

The impulse to invest time and energy on products that a person does not really need at the time, solely based on a mesmerizing discounted offer, has become distressing. The tempting offers have grown since consumers have been offered an extended opportunity to shop. Advertisements announce stores will begin to extend their hours to purchase more economical priced products to commence on Thanksgiving Day. Consumers cannot resist the urge to wait in endless lines for a few items displayed for a decreased amount.