On the most notorious shopping day of the year, it was mayhem inside one of the many San Antonio Wal-Mart stores. A weary-eyed employee was stationed at every register, operating it as fast as possible. Managers were literally running between checkout stations to give price change overrides and keep the lines moving. Tossing courtesy and manners to the wind, customers jockeyed for slightly better positions in the aisles, as well as at the checkout lines. Needless to say, it was a typical Black Friday.
To keep up with the deals offered by other retailers and attempt to stave off the lingering threat of consumers moving their business completely online, the Wal-Mart on Vance Jackson Road in San Antonio took measures to keep shoppers coming in the doors this holiday shopping season.
Though he stated a decrease in sales this season wasn’t a major concern, Andy Trinidad, a customer service manager at the store, detailed a new incentive for customers this Black Friday.
“We started our Black Friday deals on Thursday this year, a day earlier than previous years,” said Trinidad.
Attracted by the incessant Black Friday advertisements, Matthew Wildman was drawn into Wal-Mart to get his hands on a new ultrabook at a bargain price.
“I never pay full retail price for anything. That’s why I usually do most of my shopping online,” he said.
Wildman also stated he wanted a Sony PlayStation 4, which is one of the hottest items this holiday season. Though, as a self-professed ‘hardcore gamer’, he was going to wait until all the bugs were worked out before purchasing it.
Another shopper taking advantage of Black Friday deals, 83 year-old Janice Deese was buying bicycles to give to her three grandchildren for Christmas.
She planned to pay for all the gifts with the cash she withdrew from the bank earlier that day.
After further investigation, she revealed the reason for this.
“I don’t have to pay a thing for my health insurance. If it wasn’t for Obama, I wouldn’t be getting this extra money,” said Deese.
However, this sense of ease and comfort over Obama’s universal healthcare plan didn’t seem to be the case with all shoppers. Several shoppers stated they liked the idea of universal healthcare but were worried about the cost of it.
This worry didn’t translate to a decline in sales for the retail giant, which reported record-breaking Black Friday results.
Wal-Mart’s stock price fell 0.31 cents the day of this press release. The company’s stock price has continued to fall since then, currently trading at $80.22 per share.
The company reported $115.7 billion in revenue last quarter, which is a 1.7 percent increase from the comparable quarter last year. However, this fell short of Wall Street’s expectations of $116.84 billion in revenue.
Wal-Mart releases its next quarterly earnings report on Feb. 20, 2014. Though the company reported record sales on Black Friday, Wall Street might not react as positively as many might think due to a potential drop in profit margins caused by the extended length of sales, price-matching, and deeper price cuts offered by the company this holiday season.
