70 Credit Crunch Retail Promotions

In 2009, Black Friday retailers will attempt to woo budget-crunched holiday shoppers into brick-and-mortar stores like never before. We’ve seen a number of innovative approaches in advance of Black Friday 2009, and we’ve selected the smartest ones for this slideshow. There are a few major themes within this cluster, namely fun, technology and collaboration.

With the world economy as it is, much of the news would rather focus on gloom than fun. Retail stores are stepping up to fill the void for Black Friday 2009 with innovative in-store promotions and interior design to let consumers know where they can escape troubling headlines in favor of some good old fashioned fun. Microsoft store employees created a stir last week when they started doing the Electric Slide en masse, and Disney has announced their intent to rebrand a Times Square retail store as an experience-driven ‘Imagination Park.’

Our tech-driven lifestyles have also had a major impact on the retail shopping scene. Intel’s point-of-sale kiosks let in-store shoppers check their goods out solo, while brick-and-mortar stores from online entities Microsoft and eBay have shown that this transition from virtual shopping translates with consumers. Black Friday 2009 will be a major test to see if this online-to-real-world retail movement is sustainable.

We’ve also seen an increased focus on collaboration within the retail sphere, one that will only continue for Black Friday 2009. Retailers that focus on selling a lifestyle rather than mere goods—as Urban Outfitters does with its Nylon Magazine-branded products—help struggling brands gain a foothold in the market. Other brands focus on collaborations to help woo new devotees, while WePC.com solicits feedback on its Asus PCs from actual consumers, implementing top-voted ideas and designs into retail products.

Editor’s note: In the interest of full disclosure, the post above was written as a part of a sponsored series courtesy of Asus and WePC. We hope you enjoy this post and encourage you to support our sponsors by participating in their promotions.