But, if online retailers have their way, Black Friday will offer deals from the quietude of our homes, a form of distance shopping. No more pushing and shoving in retail outlets. Gone with long line-ups, security guards watching on for the first sight of tempers flaring into fisticuffs. Hark, the herald angels sing!
Instead, stores will come to you.
Volusion's Ecommerce Blog calls Black November - the Phenomenon that's Shaking E-Commerce. "Thanks to Black November, we're now in a world where holiday marketing begins in October. Jingle bells, jingle bells.
The Internet is blurring traditional seasons. We're riding one-horse open sleighs in late autumn. We're making lists and checking them twice during forkfuls of pumpkin pie. It's disorienting, but it's happening, and it will become more prevalent with each passing year.
Online communication is changing our lives. In the retirement industry, online marketing and social media have become de rigueur, and baby boomers and seniors have embraced the changes.
The changes in Christmas shopping and the growth of seniors online is a clarion call to the Senior Living industry: 'build it and they will come'. Have your website in place and your keywords based on popular health care search terms. Santa is watching to see that your metrics are in place. The wintry snows of Social Media are coming, so be prepared for an avalanche of online participants you've never met before.
Happy Thanksgiving.