2. Spurred by aggressive promotions from retailers, American consumers opened their wallets over the holiday weekend in a way they had not since before the recession, setting records in sales and traffic.
3. Retail sales broke records during the Thanksgiving weekend, giving a needed boost to a long-suffering economy and raising retailers' hopes for the best holiday shopping season ever.
4. Retailers were cheered that their mix of deep discounts, early openings and website investment produced a strong start to the holiday season. Now, they're plotting more price cuts to keep wary consumers interested for the rest of the key retailing period.
5. Shoppers lured by deep discounts and early store openings sent sales over the four days starting on Thanksgiving soaring 16.7% over the same period a year ago to $52.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation.
(Identities of the papers are revealed in the first comment, below.)
Which opening paragraph do you like best? Please post your replies in the comments section, below. To e-mail confidentially, write jimhopkins[at]gmail[dot-com]; see Tipsters Anonymous Policy in the rail, upper right.
Which papers wrote which holiday stories?
ReplyDelete1. Los Angeles Times
2. New York Times
3. USA Today
4. Wall Street Journal
5. Washington Post
No. 5 won for me hands down. Numbers and compelling words and being succinct do it for me. What a great idea to conduct this survey!
ReplyDeleteNumber 2, nice summation to the weekend sales and its impact
ReplyDeleteNumber 1 was my favorite. Number 4 was my least favorite. I thought it was clunky.
ReplyDeleteThe best depends on the market you're trying to reach. General population? No. 2 is my favorite. No. 1 limits sales figures to malls only. Nos. 3 and 4 are bulky and obviously geared toward more financial savvy readers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with 2:20 — I liked the numerical facts and tight writing.
ReplyDeleteI am a skeptic when it comes to numbers that can't be independently verified. These early projections of sales seldom hold up when the real numbers come in several weeks later. Retailers always say things are rosy. I saw a quote from one shopper who noted that there were more parking spots this year. That is a red flag. When you read past Black Friday stories they were all optimistic and upbeat.
ReplyDeleteThis was the one I liked:
ReplyDelete"Retailers, especially those that advertise regularly in Gannett newspapers, posted their best Black Friday sales in history, and store owners gave credit to Gannett's new policy of granting favorable editorial coverage to stores that buy ads."
I picked #5 as my fave first, for the same reasons as 2:20 and 9:56. My second choice was #4 though, because the mention of plans for further price cuts piqued my interest. I want to know how low prices could potentially go so I definitely would've kept reading.
ReplyDeleteThe Black Friday numbers have no meaning until the holiday season is over and a tally is conducted. It is possible that the sales from Black Friday are up, but they are cannibalizing sales later in the Christmas season. If money is tight, people need to take advantage of the discounts. ShopperTrac appears to be a pretty reliable as an indicator but predicting how a holiday season will shake out is pure speculation at this point.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am skeptical of the "Rah-Rah numbers." I walked right into a Fry's Electronics store last Saturday, picked up my purchases, stood in a very short line and walked out. I asked the clerk why there were no lines? He said its been like this since yesterday (Black Friday.) The parking lot was full, but it didn't appear people were buying.
ReplyDeleteThe National Retail Association always hypes Black Friday, and then come January, the actual numbers show overall spending to be flat or down since the 2008 crash. Also, Cyber Monday made sense 10 years ago, when most people had high speed internet connections only at work. Now, most have cable or Fios or something similar at home. So that's another bogus story being spoonfed to shortstaffed newsrooms. My job is in danger, and too many of my newspaper friends remain out of work. No one is being a grinch, but everyone is on an extremely tight budget. I'm making a donation to my local foodbank this month instead of getting a gift for myself.
ReplyDeleteGee- Nobody picked Number 3. Hmmmmmm
ReplyDeleteYou are correct, 12:41. No. 3 is full of sad old cliches and tells me nothing.
ReplyDelete"needed boost," "long-suffering economy," "the best holiday shopping season EVER?"
Pppppfffffftttttt. I wouldn't get past the first graf.
Before I read what the comments are, I will pick number 2 as my favorite.
ReplyDeleteProbably the most analytical of all the Black Friday stories, and from a non-traditional outlet.
ReplyDeletehttp://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/black-friday-boom-masks-physical-retailers-desperation-125410165.html
No. 2 was the most visual lede. It pulled me right in. Numbers can wait a graf or two.
ReplyDeleteClear winner to me -- No. 2.
ReplyDeleteNo.3 was rewritten by an editor who thought he knows better.no kidding.
ReplyDelete1:08 Hmmmmm...
ReplyDelete1:08 is correct. Another sign that Money editors are out of touch. Rewriting cliches with he journalism of hopes naive and inappropriate. As others have commented here, Thanksgiving means nothing in aggregate holiday sales.
ReplyDeleteLets hope the next holiday sales story is a bit more sophisticated and analytical.