- Title: USA: Shoppers at Macy's and Toys R Us hunt for Black Friday bargains
- Date: 23rd November 2012
- Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 23, 2012) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF MACY'S IN HERALD SQUARE VARIOUS OF SHOPPERS IN MACY'S (SOUNDBITE) (English) TERRY LUNDGREN, MACY'S CEO, SAYING: "Things are going well. I got here at midnight, actually about 11:30 and opened the doors and we had record crowds here at Macy's Herald Square. We guesstimated that it was 11,000 people, but I stood at the front door for 18 minutes and the lines never stopped coming, so it could be more than that, so, so far so good. I think we're now getting the second wave...the six and seven a.m. shoppers that are coming in now, so it feels good so far" DISCOUNT SIGN IN SHOE DEPARTMENT PEOPLE SHOPPING IN SHOE DEPARTMENT WOMAN BUYING SHOES (SOUNDBITE) (English) TERRY LUNDGREN, MACY'S CEO, SAYING: "Oh yeah, I think the customer definitely wants to find coupons. They want to find value. They're looking for items that are 20 off, 40 off, even 50 off throughout the store. And the customer knows. They understand what that value means because they have all the research available to them online, so they're using their phones to research the price and to make sure it's a good price and looking at their options and that's been a winning strategy for us. And we believe we must be competitive on pricing and therefore we are and I think that's why we're winning and have had eleven quarters in a row of great success." WOMEN SHOPPING AT THE COSMETIC COUNTER SHOPPERS AT THE CASHIER STATION WOMAN COUNTING MONEY NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHRIS DONNELLY, GLOBAL MANAGING DIRECTOR FOR RETAIL, ACCENTURE, SAYING: "I think this holiday season we're going to have a good season. It's not going to be, you know, dramatically better than other years, but the surveys that we've done of customers say that they're going to spend, on average, a little more than they have in the past and they've been very thoughtful about their planning for the year, so they've set aside a good budget that they can use in the holiday season. They also are planning on using probably a little more credit cards than they have in the past, which is a good indication of a good consumer mindset, where they're willing to use their credit cards." NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 23, 2012) (REUTERS) SHOPPERS WITH BAGS IN MACY'S (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAELLA THOMAS, SHOPPER, SAYING: "It's a lot of money spending. A lot of people out here. It's crazy. I had to get out of here quick." EXTERIOR OF TOYS R US IN TIMES SQUARE SHOPPERS IN TOYS R US (SOUNDBITE) (English) JERRY STORCH, CEO, TOYS R US, SAYING: "We opened at 8 p.m. this year, just one hour earlier and they were thrilled. Most of our customers are parents of young children. They want to go shopping at a normal hour, so they came in. It was a celebratory environment, really. I've never seen happier shoppers on Black Friday. I think they were wide awake this year, instead of when they get up in the middle of the night to go shopping, so really pleased with the customer response and how excited they were to go shopping with us." CUSTOMER GRABBING SALE ITEM (SOUNDBITE) (English) MARILYN FERNANDEZ, CUSTOMER, SAYING: "The sales. 50 percent off. That's what I normally go for. Anything on sale." SALES ASSOCIATE HELPING CUSTOMER IN THE DIGITAL DEPARTMENT TOYS R US TABEO IN DISPLAY CASE AND CUSTOMER AT THE REGISTER TABEO TABLET WITH PRICE TAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) JERRY STORCH, CEO, TOYS R US, SAYING: "We have a lot of hot deals. If you look at our ad for today, for Black Friday, we have more items at 50 and 60 percent off than I have ever seen in one ad, so we have 50 percent off some of our Monster High Dolls, which is the hottest girl's doll property today. We have a great deal on Legos and Legos are the hottest construction toy that you can get. We don't just have deals on the 'okay' stuff, we have deals on the hot stuff today." VARIOUS OF SHOPPERS IN THE LEGO SECTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) JERRY STORCH, CEO, TOYS R US, SAYING: "Doc McStuffins is probably the hottest single toy to find anywhere in the world. You can find it anywhere at a Toys R Us, but you will have to work for it." SMALLER MCSTUFFINS TOYS CUSTOMER PAYING AT TOYS R US REGISTER PEOPLE CROSSING STREET
- Embargoed: 8th December 2012 12:00
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- Location: Usa
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- Country: USA
- Topics: Quirky,Lifestyle
- Reuters ID: LVABJ7MWC2BUGFZTE7KZM1IT5OUM
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- Story Text: Thousands of shoppers shuffled through the sales floors at Macy's Herald Square in New York on Black Friday (November 23), hoping to get their hands on advertised deals aimed at attracting customers on what is generally considered the busiest shopping day of the year.
"I got here at midnight, actually about 11:30 and opened the doors," said Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren.
"And we had record crowds here at Macy's Herald Square. We guesstimated that it was 11,000 people, but I stood at the front door for 18 minutes and the lines never stopped coming, so it could be more than that, so, so far so good. I think we're now getting the second wave...the six and seven a.m. shoppers that are coming in now, so it feels good so far"
The National Retail Federation expects sales during the holiday season to rise 4.1 percent this year, below last year's 5.6 percent increase. That made a retailer's strategy important as they battled each other.
And for Macy's, coupons have always been part of that.
"I think the customer definitely wants to find coupons. They want to find value," Lundgren told Reuters.
"They're looking for items that are 20 off, 40 off, even 50 off throughout the store. And the customer knows. They understand what that value means because they have all the research available to them online, so they're using their phones to research the price and to make sure it's a good price and looking at their options and that's been a winning strategy for us. And we believe we must be competitive on pricing and therefore we are and I think that's why we're winning and have had eleven quarters in a row of great success."
But Macy's large turnout was too much for some shoppers.
"It's a lot of money spending. A lot of people out here," Michaella Thomas said outside the store.
"It's crazy. I had to get out of here quick."
The National Retail Federation said 147 million people would shop Friday through Sunday, when deals are at their most eye-catching - down from 152 million the same weekend last year.
The stakes are high for U.S. retailers, who can earn more than one-third of their annual sales and 40 percent to 50 percent of their profits during the holiday season, which generally starts with "Black Friday," the time when some retailer traditionally turned a profit for the year.
"I think this holiday season we're going to have a good season. It's not going to be, you know, dramatically better than other years, but the surveys that we've done of customers say that they're going to spend, on average, a little more than they have in the past and they've been very thoughtful about their planning for the year, so they've set aside a good budget that they can use in the holiday season," said Chris Donnelly, global managing director for retail at Accenture.
"They also are planning on using probably a little more credit cards than they have in the past, which is a good indication of a good consumer mindset, where they're willing to use their credit cards."
Toys R Us in Times Square opened their doors an hour earlier on Thanksgiving eve, which CEO Jerry Storch said proved to be a more convenient time for shoppers.
"We opened at 8 p.m. this year, just one hour earlier and they were thrilled," Storch told Reuters.
"Most of our customers are parents of young children. They want to go shopping at a normal hour, so they came in. It was a celebratory environment, really. I've never seen happier shoppers on Black Friday. I think they were wide awake this year, instead of when they get up in the middle of the night to go shopping, so really pleased with the customer response and how excited they were to go shopping with us."
Marilyn Fernandez was mostly lured by toys marked down to half price.
"50 percent off. That's what I normally go for. Anything on sale," Fernandez said.
Storch said customers would even find discounts on more popular items.
"We have a lot of hot deals. If you look at our ad for today, for Black Friday, we have more items at 50 and 60 percent off than I have ever seen in one ad, so we have 50 percent off some of our Monster High Dolls, which is the hottest girl's doll property today," said Storch.
"We have a great deal on Legos and Legos are the hottest construction toy that you can get. We don't just have deals on the 'okay' stuff, we have deals on the hot stuff today."
But one of the hottest toys that customers might have a hard time finding?
"Doc McStuffins is probably the hottest single toy to find anywhere in the world," Storch confessed.
"You can find it anywhere at a Toys R Us, but you will have to work for it."
Black Friday retail store sales will be followed by Cyber Monday on November 26, where shoppers will hunt for deals online. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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