Supply Chain Reaction

I always tell myself that I won’t do it. That there’s really no need for it. That my brother, a retail store manger, is right when he tells me that the sales on Black Friday are the same sales slated for the following weekend. But there I was, crawling out of bed at 4:30am on Friday, November 23, to get to the stores early.

I believe this marks the fifth year that I’ve done this. Among my first stops are always the electronics retailers, which in my town are all located on the same block. I started at Best Buy, only to find that by the time I arrived -- 15 minutes after the store’s opening -- the place was mobbed, significantly more than last year. Crowds formed in the MP3 player section where I headed first to find a 4-GByte iPod Nano for my above mentioned brother. There were Shuffles a plenty, but the 4-GByte Nano, as well as the iPod Touch models, were already sold out. I moved on to cell phones, looking to replace my husband’s basic phone with a smartphone, but didn’t venture into the section. There’s a pile of low-priced Plasma TVs nearby that shoppers have lined up for and is congesting the area, so I decide not to fight the crowd and skip the mobile. I move on to look for an LCD frame for my parents and sadly discover that the 7-inch model I had an eye on is also sold out. I find a hard drive that my husband wants, grab a few iTunes gift cards for stocking stuffers and white elephant exchanges, and check out.

Across the street at Circuit City, I also find a store full of early-bird shoppers. Here I had planned on picking up a few Wii games and accessories, all of which are sold out and it’s not even 5:45am. I scan the crowd: Mobs at MP3 players and mobile phones again, flat panel lines at least 20 people deep, and a solid stream of traffic to the computer section. I decide all I’ll look for is the LCD frame, which I had planned on purchasing at least three of, one for the folks and two for some weddings we have coming up (my new favorite gift to give newlyweds is an LCD frame that I load with photos taken at their wedding). Again, sold out, this time on all three models. Had I purchased the frames, I also would have bought an SD card for each.

I leave the store a little annoyed – the sun is not even up yet and so far I’ve nearly struck out when it comes to my electronics shopping – but I take some pleasure in seeing evidence of a strong consumer electronics supply chain. Looking across the street to mainstream retailer Sears, I note that the parking lot isn’t nearly as full as Best Buy’s or Circuit City’s. In fact, the one store section that didn’t show much foot traffic in either retailer was digital cameras. This isn’t surprising, though. Saturation is up with consumers and I don’t think the upgrade cycle will be as quick as the Kodaks and Cannons of the industry would like. In fact, this is the first time in my five years of Black Friday shopping that I wasn’t looking for a digital camera.

From Circuit City, I move to an near-empty Bed, Bath and Beyond, where I do find the LCD frame. I’ll have to pick up the SD cards later. I also hit Kohl’s, and see that they too are out of the LCD frames, as well as the sub-$30 DVD players they featured in their circular. Target will be my last stop, where I had planned to look for the Wii accessories/games and iPod, but I can’t get into their electronics section. The store has formed a separate line for electronics and I, hearing some angry shopper chewing out a poor clerk over why there are no flat panel TVs left at 7:00am, choose to come back later.

I drive home, making one last stop at a local bagel store for some coffee. Unfortunately, the coffee doesn’t kick in and, after crashing on the couch for a few hours, I’m online to buy the iPod, Wii games and SD cards, taking advantage of free shipping and online-only discounts. Perhaps next year I’ll just surf the Web instead of dragging myself to the stores before dawn. Ah, who am I kidding? You’ll see this blog entry again next year, just as I’ve done in the past years.

Feel free to share any comments you have on the holiday season consumer electronics market below.