Title

Investigating The Celebration Of Black Friday As A Communication Ritual

Keywords

consumer-centric; cultural values; customer experience management; marketing communication; Ritual

Abstract

This study proposes a culturally based method for achieving greater customer-centricity in marketing by examining Black Friday as a communication ritual. It enables more effective marketing strategies because it explores the meaning of participating in ritual for the consumers. A total of 65 interviews were conducted over a two year period. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis (Owen 1984) and were broken into theory-driven categories adhering to Philipsen’s (1987) definition of ritual. Data analysis revealed that shoppers engaged in a sequential set of symbolic acts: looking for deals; deciding where to shop; mapping out stores; developing in-store action plans; and assigning roles to perform. Furthermore, Black Friday shoppers celebrated four sacred objects: materialism; relational bonding; Christmas; and tradition. The findings are interrogated for their potential implications for more effective marketing strategies for these shoppers.

Publication Date

11-3-2014

Publication Title

Journal of Creative Communications

Volume

9

Issue

3

Number of Pages

235-251

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1177/0973258614545019

Socpus ID

84912099615 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/84912099615

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