Fomenting the Friday Fatale

ByABC News
November 20, 2006, 10:43 AM

Nov. 20, 2006 — -- There's an elite corps of trained warriors who dwell among us.

They research meticulously. They plan methodically. They endure freezing temperatures for a day or more in acquiring their targets. And their weapons of choice are easily concealed plastic cards capable of slicing hundreds of dollars off a retail price with a single swipe.

The code name of their mission is Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in which retailers bust open their doors to usher in the holiday buying season.

The key to attracting these elite consumers -- and millions more who are a bit more relaxed about their bargain-hunting -- will be hitting the right price points on the right items.

Sure, retailers drop prices in order to get people in the store, but the real competition is in creating enough buzz to keep people there and buy the accessories and other gifts with healthier profit margins.

As has been the trend for the last few years, we're likely to see the promotions fall into three main classifications:

These are the headline-grabbers.

Retailers will hope to drive fat revenues off thin displays this year, or at least consumer excitement around them.

The biggest buzz is around flat-panel televisions, a category that NPD has seen rise 118 percent year-to-date, and PCs, especially notebook computers, which have grown 34 percent year-to-date.

Web sites are reporting that retailers plan to offer 42-inch HD plasma televisions for less than $1,000 and 32-inch HD LCD televisions for less than $600.

At that price, LCDs will be very competitive with everyday pricing for HD tube televisions of the same size, signifying another nail in the very large coffin of the tube TV.

Notebooks, which are often promoted for less than $400 throughout the year, should see door-buster pricing of $299 or less -- one retailer will offer a $99 notebook PC with the catch of a Vonage subscription.

But PCs will face a tough road before January when Microsoft releases its long-awaited Windows Vista operating system upgrade.

Ross Rubin is director of industry analysis for consumer technology at The NPD Group www.NPDGroup.com