Videos and horror stories are
beginning to show that this year's Black Friday shopping frenzies are no different than usual Black Friday shopping frenzies.In this one clip, for example, a herd of Walmart shoppers attacks a display case and each other. The only thing that makes this scene different than the brainless zombie attacks in Walking Dead is that the live humans in Walmart move faster and more aggressively.
If there's any activity that better illustrates human herd psychology better than this annual ritual, we don't know what it is.
We're tempted to paint the behavior as a metaphor for one of the deep sicknesses of this country?the shopping and consumption addiction. The horrors of greed. The death of manners. The lack of humanity. Etc.
But everyone already knows about all those things, and yet Black Friday just seems to get more frenzied every year.
So, instead, we'll take the opportunity to ask a question:
Why don't more online retailers take advantage of this herd psychology?
According to a Kmart boss quoted yesterday, what turns normal people into brainless mobs on Black Friday is not getting a deal, particularly, but the "thrill of the hunt."
In other words, the feeling that, through perseverance, cunning, and effort, you have beaten other consumers and bagged a coveted prize.
So, why can't e-commerce companies take advantage of that?
Why can't Amazon, for example, create a sense of a "hunt" on the site on Black Friday?selling a limited number of items at some insane price, and only to customers who get there first. It was this "gamification" of shopping, after all, that drove much of eBay's early success, as well as the success of flash sales companies like Gilt Groupe. And it's what drives the "preorder" frenzy for every Apple product launch.
The truth, of course, is that shopping in the physical world on Black Friday is a nightmare.
Shopping from your couch, meanwhile, is extraordinarily pleasant.
So if Amazon, et al., could find some way to translate the "thrill of the hunt" to e-commerce, they would not just generate some additional buzz for themselves. They would help make the world better for everyone, physical-world and e-commerce shoppers alike.
SEE ALSO: We're Headed For A Disaster Of Biblical Proportions
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/black-friday-online-2012-11
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