Dynamic Accident Lawyers: Fake Sales: Black Friday Deals Not All They Were Cracked Up to Be

Black Friday shopping While the Black Friday ads that continue to be leaked earlier every year appeared to have some astonishing deals, the reality is that they may not have been so special on further investigation. Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals regularly boasted sales of 40-50% off of original prices, with some retailers like J.C. Penney and Kohl’s having an average of 66% off of regular prices.

The key to understanding the over exaggeration about all the sales hype is to consider the regular or original price. When the sales are highlighted in comparison to the regular price, they look like a great deal. However, these retail “regular and original” prices listed are sometimes more for show, and lead customers in to thinking they got a great deal.

If stores like Best Buy, Kohl’s, Target or Tiger Direct offered most of their items at the full, original price the majority of the time, then had half-off sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, then yes — those deals would be pretty impressive. However, what is becoming more apparent in the retail industry is a practice referred to as “price anchoring,” which is misleading consumers.

An anchor price is the price that customers use as a basis of comparison when making purchasing decisions while shopping. For many stores, this is the “regular price,” “original price,” or “suggested retail price.” The anchor price makes the sales price offered seem like a great bargain when consumers focus on this first piece of information about the product then use it to compare it to the “sale” price. Essentially, the sales are “fake sales” because the items were never offered at the original price to begin with.

Several consumer research groups have looked into the pricing schemes that popular retailers follow to look at the prevalence of such issues.

This year, Boomerang Commerce, a company specializing in retail pricing and who promises “Fast, Precise, Data-Driven Decisions for Profitable Growth,” studied the pricing on 1,000 popular products from Target, Walmart, Amazon and Jet.com.

According to Boomerang Commerce’s report, the prices offered for products on Black Friday and Cyber Monday were “nothing special.” Of those popular products, the retailers did not provide a significant discount, popular to contrary belief. Other than the few doorbusters that stores offered, the sales on items were generally unremarkable, the report found.

The overall discounts that the retailers offered were astonishingly low. For the 10 days leading up to Cyber Monday, Target had the most discounts, reflecting about a 6.8% price drop the day before Thanksgiving through the day after Black Friday. Walmart averaged 3.6% or less. And overall throughout the 10 days, the average discount was a measly 2.5% across the retailers.

Last year, Bomerang Commerce found much of the same, and one study showed the average discount for Black Friday was 5%. This year, sales for Black Friday were down, and perhaps it was because consumers grab deals before Black Friday or wait until after the big shopping day, believing their savings will be about the same for the rest of the shopping season. It may be that consumers are becoming more aware of anchoring practices and fake sales.

Fake Sale Lawsuit Information

Misleading pricing has been a hot topic for consumers lately, and some customers have gotten so fed up with the practice that they have taken legal action. Some stores are keeping items perpetually on sale during “fake sales” and don’t ever offer their items at full price.

Several lawsuits are pending against big retailers like J.C. Penney, Kohl’s, Burlington Coat Factory, Men’s Warehouse and T.J. Maxx, which are all facing similar fake sales pricing allegations.

J.C. Penney recently reached a $50 million settlement over its allegedly misleading pricing. Justice girls retail clotting store has also reached a fake sale price class action settlement in the amount of $50.8 million as well.

If you have purchased an item at Best Buy, Kohl’s, Target or Tiger Direct and have found that such items appear to be continually on sale, you may be eligible to join a fake sales class action investigation that seeks to explore these potentially deceptive pricing practices.

Join a Fake Sale Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you purchased an item on sale at one of the following retailers in California, you may qualify to join a free class action lawsuit investigation:

Best Buy
Kohl’s
Target
Tiger Direct

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