Saturday, November 29, 2008

Ventas del ‘viernes negro’ en Estados Unidos caen 30%

REBAJAS. El primer “viernes negro”, después del estallido de la crisis financiera, registró una caída de 30% en las ventas frente al año pasado, según los expertos.

Los “viernes negros”, un indicador clave del nivel en consumo de Estados Unidos, incluyen ofertas con enormes rebajas en las cadenas comerciales y representan el inicio de la temporada de ganancias para los grandes negocios norteamericanos.

La caída se atribuye en gran medida a la crisis causada por la debacle de Wall Street. Aun así, ofertas como computadoras a 380 dólares y televisores plasma de 50 pulgadas a 900 dólares generaron filas desde la madrugada en locales de todo el país norteamericano.

Crisis de EU alcanza al ‘viernes negro’

ansa. nueva york, estados unidos

Las consecuencias de la crisis financiera se sintieron en el “viernes negro”, como se conoce la jornada que sigue al Día de Acción de Gracias y que se considera el termómetro de las ventas para las fiestas navideñas, ya que concreta un 10% de la facturación de la temporada.

Se llama “viernes negro” porque es cuando las empresas comerciales salen del “rojo” en sus balances y comienzan a generar ganancias. Este año fue verdaderamente “negro”, ya que además de la baja en ventas, un empleado de un Wal- Mart de Nueva York murió aplastado por la multitud al abrir las puertas, a las cinco de la mañana.

La crisis preocupa a las grandes cadenas de productos electrónicos como Circuit City, que terminó bajo administración controlada después de declararse en quiebra, mientras la líder del sector, Best Buy, registró una significativa caída en las ventas en las últimas semanas.

Black Friday Horror Stories

While nothing can match the horror of workers getting killed by stupid mobs and shootings in the middle of a Toys R Us, we keep receiving horror tales about other Black Fridays gone wrong. The biggest one is about how CompUSA/Tigerdirect online "sale"—the one with the Sony Vaio TT with a $5,000 discount was apparently a total disaster, according to readers. Update: A guy from the CompUSA "sale" wrote to us. Readers keep posting their stories about other places in the comments.

CompUSA and Tigerdirect

Please let it be known that everything about tigerdirect.com/compusa.com 's "big" sale was a bust.

First it was not an online sale but a tele-marathon instead. Prices were valid only through phone lines which for half the night were actually dead. When the lines were working i was either on hold for a minimum of 20 min then hung up on or on the one occasion i got through was told that the product i requested was not on sale and then got hung up on. The crew for the live web cast lost video throughout the night.

Browsers were crashing, phones were crashing, all organization was lost. It was just a very unsatisfying experience for having spent 12+ hours tuned in to their product placement and free advertisement and still leaving empty handed. Now i realize everyone cries when they do not get their tickle me elmo but this seemed different.

I felt as though I was lied to. Quantities were not limited but scarce. They were based off donated products a fact that was no where to be seen in the advertisement. I don't know. It is late, i am tired, and i somehow feel robbed even though i had no chance to spend money. I wrote you so this message did not get lost in the comments. I am a long time tigerdirect promoter but i am reconsidering my loyalty. So please just let me known. That this was a FAIL!

well i know people that went to the compusa.com web site and watched their live stream /pink Friday sale ALL day, essentially they would show an item on sale and give you an 888-444-9x00 number to call to try to order it.

i guess it worked ok until the last few hours when all their computers and cameras went out—they switched to a asus netbook to broadcast the last few items, including the coveted sony vaio TT laptop that lists t $6000, being sold for $999.

yes I tried desperately to call in for that, as did nearly the 5000 people watching...the last few hours had not only the problems with the webcast, but also audio sync, and then problems with the sale 888
phone lines, making it impossible to get through.....we need the net to complain to make compusa do the sale again or just sell more of the sony vaio tt.

The Compusa/Tigerdirect Pink Friday sales where a joke and I question whether or not anyone received any of the high demand products other than staff members and there friends.There where a few products which I had planned on buying mainly: i7 920 processors,x58 mobo's,Nec projectors,Xbox360..... I had 3 phones auto-dialing the numbers.Since they were basically changing the phone# in sequence ie: 1-888-444-9300,1-888-444-9500,1-888-444-9800 repeat. I had the phones set to start dialing b4 they were put on the screen,as they put the number on the screen,and just after the number was put up. and would receive the "Item is already sold out","Please hold" message or would just plain get hung up on.
All in all it was ONE BIG SCAM!

A CompUSA guy wrote a reply to this story. He had this to say:

I also looked all over PinkFriday.org and I now have to agree with some of the customers who are complaining. I don’t believe that the deals and the ways in which they were delivered were explained. They did not say that the deals were only available through the phone and they did not explain that they only had a few units of each item. Perhaps they could have said, “Telethon style giveaways of extremely limited quantities.”

This is a small issue but it seems to have riled up a few people.

My final thought is this: Despite all the frustration and the technical difficulties, despite the fact that the explanation of the event was vague, despite the customer complaints, there were a lot of happy people and there was a ton of money donated to Susan G Komen.

Circuit City

I went to Circuit City to get a videocamera. They didn't have the $200 JVC one that I really wanted. They didn't have the $450 HD Samsung (marked down from $850) in stock. And, when I spotted a good $650 HD Sony videocamera, they wouldn't do a $50 price match to CompUSA.

That's right - Circuit City was unwilling to do an 8% price match for a customer in store ready to buy. In fact, I didn't even get a counteroffer. At least a "I can't do $610 but how about $630?" Is it any wonder they're going out of business.

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