REI is planning to #OptOutside of Black Friday. Why?

Black Friday is looming large for retailers, but REI is taking the day off instead, closing all of its 143 stores on the biggest shopping day of the year. The outdoor equipment company is hoping consumers will join in instead of shopping.

|
Elaine Thompson/AP/File
Rachel Hartman looks over sea kayaks as she shops for a birthday present for herself at an REI store in Seattle. The outdoor retailer has announced it will buck Black Friday 2015 and close its 143 stores on the day after Thanksgiving.

This year’s Black Friday and holiday season are shaping up to be a battle ground between online and mortar-and-stone retail giants. However, as retailers ramp up hiring and price cutting to compete, some are pushing-back against the near-official national holiday of sales.

Instead of stocking shelves and mobilizing workers for Black Friday, REI, the outdoor equipment co-op, will be closing its stores and giving its employees a paid day off. Additionally, the company has created a website for a new campaign #OptOutside, aimed at convincing consumers to spend Black Friday outside with friends and family instead of indoors shopping. 

REI’s decision to close down on Black Friday may be an industry first; the day after Thanksgiving is among the most important days of the year for retailers. But the promotion makes sense in a way for REI, because people tend to need outdoor equipment for outdoor activities.

“We're a different kind of company—and while the rest of the world is fighting it out in the aisles, we’ll be spending our day a little differently,” REI CEO Jerry Stritzke wrote on the #OptOutside website.

It’s true; REI really is a different kind of company. The retailer was established as  a co-op and is not publicly traded - instead, it has 5.5 million members who pay $20 in exchange for a variety of benefits, including discounts and a tiny share of the company's profits. According to the Washington Post, the decision is likely geared more toward strengthening the bond with those customers than catching the attention of the typical Black Friday shopper.

Even if other retailers wanted to #OptOutside for Black Friday, they may not be able to afford it financially.

According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), an estimated 133.7 million Americans shopped during Black Friday weekend and spent over $50 billion in 2014. The National Retail Federation also predicts that this Black Friday and holiday season (November and December) might be bigger, with traditional retail sales increasing by 3.7 percent and online sales increasing between 6 and 8 percent.

"Black Friday historically is the most important retail day of the year," Ron Friedman, an executive from Marcum LLP, told USA Today. "It's like a national holiday."

Retailers have already begun preparations to capitalize on the increase of sales. Wal-Mart (60,000), Target (70,000), Macy’s (85,000), and Amazon (100,000) have all begun hiring tens of thousands of seasonal workers. Delivery services FedEx and United Parcel Service hare planning to hire 55,000 and 95,000 seasonal workers, respectively, to handle the surge in holiday shipping. 

Consumers are also preparing. Tuesday marked the beginning of one man’s quest to be the first to buy a new television on sale by camping outside of a Best Buy in Florida – 33 days before Black Friday.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to REI is planning to #OptOutside of Black Friday. Why?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2015/1027/REI-is-planning-to-OptOutside-of-Black-Friday.-Why
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe