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I am sick of reading about Black Friday -- it sounds so ghoulish. The reason for this name is that retailers lose money until the day after Thanksgiving at which point so many people buy holiday gifts that the retailers tip into profitable territory -- going from operating "in the red" to "in the black."
Why not color profit as green instead of black? After all, the money in my wallet isn't black, it's green. So I'm going to call it Green Friday instead. This sounds much more festive and alive to me.
And there's good news on this front. Surveys say that this years' shopping season looks to be better than last years:
- The National Retail Federation projects holiday sales will increase 5% from 2005, bringing spending to $457.4 billion;
- Citigroup forecasts an "average" same-store sales growth of 3% for November through January;
- Deloitte & Touche LLP is forecasting a 7% increase in 2006 holiday spending compared with 2005; and
- A Gallup Poll of 1,004 people indicated consumers will spend an average of $826, more than any of its polls since 2000.
So join in the national celebration of Green Friday. Our nation's retailers are depending on you.
Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates, a management consulting and venture capital firm, and a Professor of Management at Babson College.
Looking for toy and game bargains come this Friday, aka Black Friday? You've got it with some of the below choices, with many popular toys -- and even some games -- selling for less than $20 this Friday (and most likely Saturday as well). With the recent launch of the Sony Playstation 3 and the Nintendo Wii gaming consoles, console specials and associated games probably won't be featured heavily (if at all) in Black Friday deals with the launches having happened so recently. So, for less-expensive tastes, how about the below goodies:
Looking for the perfect gift for the husband, dad, or grown son on your list? My advice: Skip the clothing racks and go straight for the hardware aisles. Another tie, sweater or pair of pajamas reeks of domesticity, comfort and a kind of quiet fading into the sunset. Instead, set his pulse to racing with a gift that shows you think he's a real man, a take-charge kind of guy, king of his castle and all that. 
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I remember it used to be $100 per megapixel, but now you can get massive resolution for a miniature price. But how many megapixels do you (and your gift-ees) need? And can you really get a good 6MP camera for $99? Here are some of the sales we've found for this Friday:
Plasma HDTVs have always seemed to have had a curious target market. Back in 2000, when the industry was really just beginning to explore the possibilities, I was working with a company that sold used goods on eBay. We did a favor for our dotcom bank, helping the account managers liquidate some assets from a bankrupt fellow startup. The prize was a 60-some" plasma screen, which I very quickly sold to a man in Kentucky for a hefty sum. He drove down to pick it up and I learned he had paid his entire monthly paycheck for the giant toy -- but he still lived with his parents, so where else was he going to spend his web designer salary?
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