Professor: Black Friday Not Good To Local Businesses

While Black Friday was much better compared to , it was not that much better for small local businesses, stated a Villanova marketing professor. 

In an email interview with the Haverford-Havertown Patch , Eric J. Karson, Ph.D., wrote that Black Friday sales did not help local businesses.

“There was nothing specific to indicate Black Friday was any better for small businesses. From what I can see, it doesn't (seem) like there is anything but anecdotal evidence that Small Business Saturday helped either,” Karson wrote on Tuesday.

Small Business Saturday was a promotional campaign by American Express to have consumers shop at local stores. The campaign was advertised on Patch.

One Havertown business owner did tell Patch on Monday that a few of her customers came into her store because of Small Business Saturday.

Franca Pezza, the co-owner of Alexia's Gift Box located on 25 W. Eagle Rd., said that a few of her customers told her that they were using the $25 they received from signing up with Small Business Saturday at her store.

But she admitted that her 1-year-old jewelry and craft store did not do well compared to last year. She attributes this to the advertising “hype” from big businesses telling shoppers to go to big-named retailers.

Yet Pezza said she is hoping that customers will shop locally as the holiday season goes on.

Sonya Gines, the assistant manager of , said on Tuesday that the Black Friday weekend “was dead” at her store.

“Our customer count was low,” she told Patch.

Mandee’s goal was to make a daily $2,000 revenue for Saturday and Sunday and after looking at her sales figures she said that on Saturday the store only made $900, but Sunday the revenue was $2,447, Gines said.

But not all stores were forthcoming with Black Friday sales figures.

“Kohl’s does not provide specific information about sales or sales expectations between our monthly sales and earnings announcements and does not disclose location/region-specific sales as we consider this information proprietary to our business,” stated Vicki Shamion, Kohl's Senior Vice President of Public Relations and Community Relations, in an early Tuesday evening email to Patch.

But with so many people still unemployed, it does put pressure on retail sales, Karson added. Small businesses will not fare well this holiday season for a few reasons, Karson predicted.

“Online has really stretched the holiday shopping season. Many small retailers have a much harder time coordinating, and executing, the types of online promotions that larger chains can. Best Buy, Staples, and Amazon, all post Black Friday Deals, pre-Black-Friday deals, Weekend Deals, Cyber Monday deals, etc.,” he stated. “Small retailers just can't do this.”

And it seems that online promotions are some of the reasons why as a whole many stores did well. Karson continued that another reason why this year’s Black Friday was better than last year’s was because the economy a year ago was “quite poor” and this year many consumers had “pent-up demand” for items that they needed or wanted.

While many small businesses will not fare well this holiday season due to the tough economic conditions, according to Karson, he did offer some advise to them.

“Pray for good weather. As I stroll down Haverford Avenue in Narberth, I do see some retailers’ (stores) brightly lit, and, perhaps, open longer. It has to attract some traffic,” he wrote.