Is Black Friday Still a Thing?

Bret and Veronica are joined by Sunderesh Heragu from Oklahoma State University and the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) on Black Friday coming early this year.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Just a little while and it's Thanksgiving and then Black
Friday weekend, the official start of the holiday shopping season.
Holiday sales have started to get shoppers out before Thanksgiving lately.
Joining us now from Oklahoma State University Regions Professor and
John Hendrick Chair sundersh Herigug. Thank you so much for
talking to us today.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
Oh my pleasure. Thank you for having me.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
So, the question is the supply chain. We've heard lots
about it. You know, first it was a pandemic, and
you know, now with tiras, are we going to have
enough to meet all the demand?

Speaker 2 (00:33):
Yeah, it depends on the specific item you're looking for.
They're predicting that car parts are already short, cleaning supplies,
some transformers, and some medication. But for the most parts,
especially big ticket items seem to be available. You know,
with respect to the lower end items, maybe we won't
have as many styles and as much variety, but it

(00:56):
still seems to be holding up despite all of the
tariffs and you know things like that, right, the supply
chain issues that we've faced recently.

Speaker 1 (01:03):
There always seems to be every year, everybody's after you know,
the new xbox or this, you know, new talking doll
what have you. Does it seem to be anything that
we could be not able to get.

Speaker 2 (01:16):
Doesn't seem like that, you know, other than the items
that I mentioned, you know, with respective toys and all that,
I think they're you know, looking at having Nintendo Switch
tos xboxes, the different varieties and all of those well stocked.
And of course iPhones I think are going to be
in a lot of demand now. One thing that the
customer needs to be able to do is be flexible

(01:39):
and be ready for omni channel shopping, meaning you know,
seeing something online and buying it at a store or
seeing in the store and buying it online. You know,
if they like something, they need to grab it because
if they wait for Black Friday sales, like you said,
it's already started, you know, they may not get the
item that they want. And besides, I think several stores

(01:59):
areeing price matches should they drop on Black Friday. So
I think the customers need to prioritize, plan and shop
early for their top priority items and be a little
bit flexible.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
We are talking to Professor sunder Ash Haragu from Oklahoma State.
Another question, what about inflation is it going to impact
consumers and spending this year. I mean, assuming there's some impact,
but will it be a big impact?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, I mean the National Retail Federation expects shopping to
top one trillion dollars. But we also know that we
have a K shaped economy, you know, because of inflation,
because the government shut down lots of different factors. There
are people who are have a higher disposable income and

(02:44):
they will help boost sales of high priced and high
margin items like I mentioned phones, but also watches, handbags,
and jewelry. But people at the lower end of the
spending scale, you know, they're paying a lot more now
for groceries, childcare, healthcare, and housing, so they may not
be contributing as much to the trillion dollars in sales

(03:06):
that is expected. Again, the government shut down, the job
losses that we are facing in the private sector, but
overall uncertainly in the economy could drag holiday sales down.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
We need to talk about AI. It seems to impact
everything anymore. What about holiday spending? What about holiday gift selection?
Is Does AI play a role?

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Absolutely? I think there are apps like keep up, which
tracks prices on Amazon tells us where the deals are.
There are other tools like Helium and then Honey Rakoton
and Capital One Shopping. The latter c provide coupons, help
us compare prices, tell us about availability. Some of these
here to pay a user fee for, but I think

(03:51):
it'd be worth it because you know where the availability is,
what the prices are, and maybe you can get a
coupon that helps offset the costs to pay for these apps.
And we can also get a lot of great gift
suggestions from your front of the middle AI search engines.
But I would also, you know, encourage customers not to overlook,

(04:13):
you know, the traditional flyer because that also gives you
an indication of what's available in your local best Buy
or Costco or Walmart or what have you. But with
respect to businesses, I think AI is still in its infancy,
meaning you know, the AI can help with predicting demand fluctuations,
help with real time inventory adjustments, optimizing stock allocation. But

(04:37):
on the consumer side, I think there are tools that
will help the consumer shop better, save more, and figure
out where things are available.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
If they can help me save I'm all about the AI.
To regents professor and John Hendrix, Chair at Oklahoma State
Sundrous harragu thank you so much for joining us.

Speaker 2 (04:53):
Thank you again for having me