I once again have completed my annual Black Friday store observation trip throughout Northern Virginia. Usually I can walk away and say either this is going to be a good holiday season, or a bad one, but this year I have mixed emotions based on what I observed. Many were looking for Black Friday to give us a glimpse into the future of the holiday season and an indicator of where the U.S. economy is heading.
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The uneasy relationship between digital delivery and physical stores has a steadily improving history. In 2004, as its Virgin Megastores were struggling, parent company Virgin funded Virgin Electronics, which quickly disappeared in 2005 in the shadow of the iPod. (My colleague Stephen Baker is quoted in this CNET-authored obituary.) Nintendo’s Wi-Fi connection took it to the next level, providing connectivity in retail stores for the Nintendo DS, but didn’t provide much differentiation for retailers. And while Apple provides free Wi-Fi in its stores, it instead partnered with Starbucks to offer a customized iTunes store home page that offered lists of recent songs for purchase playing in its coffee shops.
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I was shopping last weekend for a gift for my twins to take to their friends’ party, and I entered my local specialty retail store without a preconceived notion of what I was going to get, but with a definite price range in mind. As my kids suggested various items to me, I evaluated it against my predetermined price range. Too often, my response to their suggestion was, “No, honey, that’s above my price range,” but eventually we settled on the perfect gift for the boy that they thought he’d enjoy, while also sticking to my budget.
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Consumer Technology | Stephen Baker, Vice President, Industry Analysis | 
November 28, 2009 5:56 pm | 
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