This is the third day of a 30-day trial. Follow the link to Marketing Ideas En Masse to find out more.

I find it amazing how well cutting prices works to lure people into a store. The problem with the price cut war is eventually everyone gets in on it and those that don’t cut prices get cut out by the customers. This year retailers have cut prices quick and early to attract customers into their stores. I think overall this is a good thing because I don’t like paying $80 for shoes when I know they were made for about $5 somewhere outside of the USA. The next problem to the price cut war is convincing people they will still be getting a deal if they buy today and not tomorrow when the prices are even lower. I wonder what the door buster prizes will be this year at the major retail stores on Black Friday. This could potentially be a great year for deals. Here is what the Baltimore Sun has to say:

To lure shoppers, retailers are pushing holiday promotions earlier than ever; they’re already offering extended store hours and steep cuts on items such as toys. In recent years, holiday advertisements began to appear before the Halloween candy is sold out, but the big shopping season has crept even earlier this year as retailers grapple with the economic downturn.

Wal-Mart led the way for holiday bargains by slashing the price on toys well before Halloween. The world’s largest retailer also announced it will alert shoppers about holiday deals through text-messaging.

Other retailers have also launched sales and discounts traditionally pegged to the day after Thanksgiving, the typical start of the holiday season. Kmart began hosting “Black Friday Weekends” two weeks ago. Stores such as Kohl’s and JCPenney have extended hours to midnight on some days, another shopping tradition once reserved for after Thanksgiving.

Retailers also are appealing to consumers with marketing campaigns and other programs that promote ways to stretch a budget or save a few dollars.

That’s all we have to do! Convince the consumers that they can save money while spending it at our store and not the competitiors. Genius.

This is the first day of a 30-day trial. Follow the link to Marketing Ideas En Masse to find out more.

As black Friday and the mad shopping spree from Thanksgiving to Christmas approaches, stores are getting desperate. The more desperate they get, the better deals you will find. Already, I have seen sites posting stores like Best Buy and JC Penny’s with Black Friday sales coupons. You can always visit BlackFriday.info to find the best collection of coupons. Here is what Mercury News had to say:

“Consumers may need some encouragement to get into the holiday spirit this year,” said Scott Marden, director of market research for Vertis Communication, which offers marketing services to retailers. “No interest, no payments, layaway offers, door-busters, one-stop shopping, and rebate incentives will all be welcomed by most consumers” along with gift-with-purchase deals and buy-one-get-one-free offers.

The Gap, Banana Republic and Old Navy, which are owned by the Gap, are pushing hard to get consumers in the door this weekend. The company e-mailed coupons for 30 percent off to 5 million customers with an additional bonus: The Gap will give 5 percent of what you spend to a favorite nonprofit. The coupon is good through Sunday.

There’s also the soft sell: The Gap’s holiday campaign features current hot television stars such as “Cam Gigandet of “Twilight,” Jon Hamm of “Mad Men” and Mary-Louise Parker of “Weeds” in cozy pictorials.

In a departure from its traditional print and TV ads, the San Francisco-based company has also created humor-infused Webisodes featuring such unlikely pairings as Selma Blair with Rainn Wilson and the Dixie Chicks with Sandra Bernhard singing traditional Christmas songs. The videos launched Thursday and are designed to be shared through social-networking pages like Facebook and downloaded to iPhones. The six videos reside on gap.com/MerryMixIt and will be shown in movie theaters before features, too.

Josh here: I just have to say that I would love to kill the person who invented ads shown before movies. You used to be able to pay $10 for a movie and $15 on concessions, but now… You have to sit through 15 minutes of ads and previews. Don’t get me wrong, I love the previews of upcoming movies, but all the ads can disappear for all I care. I don’t want to be advertised to after paying an exorbitant amount to sit and eat junk food.

“They’re designed to bring a smile to someone’s face, given all the bad news lately,” said Olivia Doye, director of public relations and marketing for the Gap.