Not sure how many of you are following @GoogleRetail on Twitter, and saw their below tweet, and the post it is linked to, but I believe it is an extremely important one to miss:

The blog post that appeared on Google Retail Blog earlier this month (and the one that they’re linking to from the above tweet) quoted the Google/OTX Consumer Intentions for Holiday 2009 report which projected:

• 62% of consumers will still shop after the holidays
• 10% “won’t even begin purchasing until after the holidays have ended”

I must admit, I fall into the 62%, waiting until after Christmas to buy a couple of items too. The 10% that don’t plan on shopping “until after the holidays” is interesting data.

MediaPost has just reported that Wal-Mart is already actively preparing for the post-holiday shopping creating “plenty of motivational bargains” in forms of bargains and deeper discounts.

Affiliates and merchants, are you getting ready to entertain the post-holiday deal-seeking consumers?

A few days ago in their “Black Friday Anti-Deals: What Not To Buy” post Gizmodo wrote:

…many of these “deals” really aren’t deals at all. Often, Black Friday sale products are priced differently between stores, or they are priced at or above deals you can find elsewhere any day of the week. You might see a particularly juicy deal in a flier on a big ticket item like an HDTV, only to discover that the store only had a few units to sell. The bottom line is that you need to do your homework…

And they were spot on!

One of the things that I’ve been wanting to buy for some time has been a home theater system. Being a huge fan of Sony; I got immediately excited to see the following Bravia system on a Black Friday sale at BestBuy.com, only to be disappointed half a second later when seeing the “sold out online” note:

I looked through their other deals for home theater systems, but the ones that caught my eye were either sold out, or not available for the mandatory in-store pick up in nearby stores. So I just went to shopping.google.com, and searched for the Sony Bravia system that I thought I have missed. And here’s what I saw:

The first link was dead, but the second one was working, and I’ve placed my order with TheNerds.net. Spent only $9.97 more (essentially, the cost of shipping), but don’t have to drive anywhere, and got a good deal.

TheNerds know exactly what they’re doing (marking their prices down the way they do):

* Those “Compare” buttons are actually linked to their competitors’ sites! Amazing, isn’t it?

I’ve also compared several other Black Friday “deals” from other online merchants, and registered very similar situations: you can get these prices through comparison shopping sites pretty much any time. Interesting.

Recalling the “Black Friday by the Numbers” info-graphic that Permuto published last week, today I have decided to go back to the list of online retailers that have seen the best 2007 to 2008 growth in Black Friday audience reach, and see which of them are waiting until the actual Friday comes, and which are taking advantage of people’s holiday shopping mood, and their day off on Thursday (by the way, Happy Thanksgiving, America!).

It is this part of the Permuto’s graph that I’m referring to:

I’ve excluded two e-tailers: eBay because they are not your regular retailer (but mostly an auction platform), and CircuitCity (on obvious reasons). Out of the remaining eight, I’ve arrived at two lists: retailers that have made their Black Friday deals available on the Thanksgiving Thursday, and those that are waiting for the actual Friday to come.

Black Friday Deals Available on Thursday

• Amazon — “You shouldn’t have to stand in a long line to get a great deal”

• BestBuy — You can come to the store “at 5 am on Friday, Nov. 27… or, start shopping” online on Thursday!

• JCPenney — Black Friday “online screenbusters” (by analogy with “in-store doorbusters”) available on the Thanksgiving Day

• Sears – “Black Friday pricing available NOW on sears.com only”

Black Friday Deals Available on Friday (online or in-store only)

• Dell
• Kohl’s
• Target
• Walmart

Most of the retailers that tie the deals to the actual Friday, do run some “Thanksgiving deals” online, but shopping around and doing some price comparison, they are not even close to the markdowns that I see at the online stores of the merchants in the first group above.

Why would a merchant with an online storefront wait until 4 or 5 am of Friday morning, and not take advantage of the Thursday? I don’t know.

Affiliate Summit is the largest affiliate marketing conference available. The next one is going to be held between 9 and 11 August 2009 in New York City. These conferences are great to attend, and while the ones on the West Coast generally attract more attendees, the East Coast ones have been growing rapidly, and I expect the upcoming NYC one to have 2,850 or more affiliate marketers in attendance.

There are three types of passes you can get to each Affiliate Summit: the Silver one, the Gold one, and the Platinum one. The Silver pass gives you access to the Meet Market that is being held on the first day of the Summit, the exhibit hall, and the the Affiliate Summit social network online. The Gold pass gives you access to all of the above plus admission to the keynote, the Sunday educational sessions and networking events, as well as access videos and PPT presentational of all Affiliate Summit’s sessions. Finally, the Platinum pass gives you access to all of the above as well as meals (breakfasts and dinners) during Monday and Tuesday, and admission to all educational sessions (not just the Sunday ones).

At this time the prices are as follows: Platinum Pass – $949, Gold Pass – $349, Silver Pass – $149. They will go up in price from $200 to $300 depending on the type of pass after 12 June 2009 (details here).

I would like to thank Shawn Collins and Missy Ward for extending a special discount to the readers of my blog. To get 10% off any pass, using code AMNAV10 at registration.

See you in New York!