5Q with JoAndrea Hoegg, UBC professor, on how retailers fuel Black Friday buying frenzy

Black Friday is upon us. This is the day tens of thousands of Canadian shoppers will head into stores , both at home and across the border, to partake in a retail event that has come to be known as much for its unbelievable deals as the equally unbelievable human behaviour it can often elicit.

The Friday shopping extravaganza is tied with American Thanksgiving Day and symbolizes the day retailers “get in the black,” or start turning a profit.

The deals can be scorching hot, but it’s the fiery consumers we’ve all become fascinated with: Pleasant-faced moms scrapping with strangers and normally mild-mannered men throwing punches and insults on their way to the television aisle.

So far, Canadians have been able to avoid much of the madness, at least on this side of the border. This year marks the first time we’ll really see the kind of blow-out sales offered by local retailers on a par with our American neighbours.

Certainly, Black Friday is good news for shoppers, but, as its popularity creeps further and further onto our home turf, can we expect our collective behaviour to drift farther south?

There is a science behind the buying frenzy. We asked JoAndrea Hoegg, associate professor of marketing and behavioural science at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, to explain how stores fuel chaos, and what consumers do to walk away from the malls with Black Friday deals instead of black eyes.

It seems like bad behaviour is almost always tied to Black Friday shopping. Is it the first retail event that we’ve seen elicit this kind of response?

It’s probably the one that gets the most media. In Canada, it’s been more Boxing Day because Black Friday didn’t really exist until recently. Certainly, there have been events where this kind of thing (frenzy) can happen. But this one is probably the biggest because it is the most famous. It does get a lot of media attention, particularly when things get slightly out of hand and you end up with cases of aggression or violence.

You’re talking about the cases where people have been trampled to death?

Those cases are not as common as it sometimes seen on the news. It does happen on rare occasions and, of course, it should never happen on a shopping day. You should not be going to the mall and fearing for your safety.

Let’s talk about the consumer. What creates this weird, primal reaction in people who might otherwise be quite polite?

Several things are going on. The first one has to do with why people go into the stores in the first place. There are two groups of consumers that are generally attracted to days like Black Friday. For one group, it is actually a very positive thing. It is a fun annual event that they do. They often do it with friends and family. They line up ahead of time. They plan out what they are going to get. They make a whole social occasion out of it. They are not in a rush. They know its chaos. They know that the lines are going to be long and that’s fine. They enjoy the excitement and the bustle and they have a lot of fun.

But there is another segment of the market that go planning for the deals, excited to get a deal, but they are the ones who can get more wrapped up in the frenzy.

Can you explain the retail strategy that prompts the frenzy?

Retailers use a tactic that we call scarcity. They put something on sale. It’s only for one day. There is a chance you may not get it or a chance that it might run out. There is a feeling that ‘I might not be able to get it. I’ll miss my opportunity’. That creates this competitive feeling in consumers that they have to be the one to win. And that’s fine, but what happens is you have so many people that this is happening to that you end up with what has been referred to in mob psychology literature as ‘group de-individuation.’ That means that individuals don’t feel their own personal identity as much. Because there is such a crowd that they feel anonymous and they behave in ways that they wouldn’t normally behave … and they start engaging in more aggressive behaviour.

It sounds very similar to what we’ve seen happen during riots.

It is the same phenomenon that you see in sports riots and this kind of thing — groups of people together and every individual behaves with a little less responsibility.

So, then, aren’t marketers somehow tapping into these same behaviours?

What they are really trying to do is activate this notion of scarcity and get people to have that thrill of ‘I’ve won. I have managed to get the best deal and I have beaten everyone else.’ That feeling is very attractive and it creates this arousal that you want to go and get it. That is really what they are doing. They are not trying to create, obviously, mob behaviour. That is not in their interests either, because it is certainly not good for business. But it is sometimes the negative outcome that can occur.

Have retailers/marketers learned to better control consumer behaviour as the popularity of Black Friday expands?

I can’t speak specifically to what marketers are doing, but certainly from the consumer side, companies are extending Black Friday. Some of the deals are on one day, but some, like Boxing Day have become Boxing Week, some sales now stretch over a longer period of time and that does help reduce the number of people at any given time.

Consumers are also getting a little bit smarter. They are realizing that there might be one or two big items that are on sale that might be part of the advertisement, but once you are in the store, it’s not that everything is going to be 50 per cent off. The rest of the deals are often quite a bit smaller. They are, and they should be, doing their homework and looking at the prices and figuring out what the regular price is and the price on Black Friday. It’s when you get caught up in the excitement — It is fun. There are people everywhere — but you can end up buying lots more than you plan to buy. It can happen pretty easily.

You sound like you’ve been shopping on Black Friday?

I used to live in San Diego so, yes, Black Friday is a big thing and we definitely went. I really do think the trick to success is having reasonable expectations. There are deals to be had, but it is not going to be on everything. Having a plan on what you are going to buying ahead of time. Maybe splurging on one or two little things, but don’t go crazy … and really compare the prices.

Isn’t that part of the retail strategy: Get people through the door for that discount TV and hope that they end up buying all kinds of other things?

It’s a pretty common marketing strategy, not only on Black Friday, though certainly it happens more on days like this. They have certain products which they call a loss leader so it is either a huge cut, possibly even under their costs, but certainly they are not making very much money on the one or maybe two items. Those are bulk of the items that get the advertizing. And then once they get people through the door, it’s much more likely that you are going to look at other things.

Is there really such a thing as shoppers high? How long does it typically last?

I think it really varies by person. For people who have approached Black Friday in this positive way, there really is a great feeling of getting a fantastic deal. We all love to get a good deal. If you did it, and you got that TV for 50 per cent off, that feeling can last a long time. For those items that maybe you shouldn’t have bought or maybe ended up getting not such a great deal because you ended up getting caught up in the excitement, then the euphoria can fade quite quickly. I can be immediate, as soon as you get home or when the bill shows up in the mail.

Up until now, this has been an American phenomenon. What do you think is helping to drive Canadians’ increasing appetite for Black Friday deals closer to home?

Black Friday was never a particularly big day in Canada. Retailers have done it to try and stop the cross-border shopping or at least try and reduce it. Also, with the dollar it’s not quite as attractive to go down south, because our dollar has come down a bit. There is a little more interest in staying up here. I think retailers are doing a really good job of taking advantage of that. They are encouraging Canadians to start their Christmas shopping a little bit earlier, which I think is probably going to make people happier because they will end up with a little bit more time as it gets closer to Christmas to actually enjoy their family and enjoy some of the more traditional aspects of the holiday season.

With Black Friday creeping into Canada, do you see it changing the way Canadian consumers behave during big sales events?

That’s a good question. It will be interesting to see this year because this is probably the first big Black Friday that has really gotten a lot of attention. It will be interesting to see what happens.

Will you be heading across the border to tackle the sales?

I am not. I will stay here. I will do a little shopping, but I will do my shopping in Canada.

#author: darahhansen