Did Black Thursday redden Black Friday?

You may not have seen my Thursday post that predicted a time when no one would shop on Black Thursday because they were all working.

Well, one thing already happened this year - Black Thursday adversely affected Black Friday, according to Fortune.

The National Retail Federation’s estimate that retail sales fell 11% over the key four-day Thanksgiving-Black Friday shopping weekend was a disaster....

“The consumer has gotten a lot smarter. Retailers created their own pain and suffering by bringing a lot of deals into the week before Black Friday. It diminished the excitement,” David Bassuk, managing director and co-leader of the global retail practice at AlixPartners, told Fortune. “It’s made Black Friday a non-event.”

Oh, and Cyber Monday - today - may have also been harmed.

The entire psychology behind event marketing takes a tumble when the things that were supposed to happen on the day after Thanksgiving, or the day that we all returned back to work, are instead spread out over several days. While Forbes may postulate that you CAN extend the Black Friday psychology over several days - or an entire year - by emphasizing things such as scarcity and anticipation, you're not going to get the crowds out there in droves by spreading things out. Let's face it, if Disney kept its movies on the market all the time, it would lose a ton of marketing opportunities.