Variable Markup

Along with Walmart putting their secret sales online early this year, other retailers are deciding to release their ads earlier than Thanksgiving.  According to an article on ToledoBlade.com, Best Buy will release their ad on Wednesday before Thanksgiving and Meijer has already released their ad including a 37 inch LCD TV for $500.   After a quick look at the Meijer site, I couldn’t find the ads.  A few links found on black friday sites resulted in a page not found.  It looks like they changed their mind after publishing the ad. 

I think getting the ads out earlier is an interesting way for smaller retailers to compete with the big box stores.  If the retailer isn’t going to be able to get the ad coverage, they might as well get their ads out now, build community mindshare and traffic to their site.   They can always leave some exclusives for later in the week.