Tagged: holiday shopping

Philanthropic organizations want to capitalize on the spending campaigns of "Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday"  - and also flip the idea of consumerism on its head.

The idea behind "Giving Tuesday" is to take time to donate to charity, after two of the biggest shopping days of the year.

Eileen Heisman is the CEO of National Philanthropic Trust - one of the groups promoting the campaign.

"This is the first year, but I think it's going to continue," said Heisman. "I'm almost positive it is, and so I think in the following years we'll see a much bigger push and more visibility for people taking this time of year to give back in a more formal way on this day."

Charities report nearly a quarter of their annual donations come between Thanksgiving and New Years.

While there must be some Black Friday shoppers waking up before dawn just for the thrill of throwing elbows on their way to the last Tickle Me Elmo, most shoppers rationalize this seemingly irrational behavior by pointing to cheaper prices.

And of course the prices are lower. Right?

Not so, says the Wall Street Journal.

Michigan retailers are optimistic they will have a very good holiday shopping season this year.

Nationally, sales are expected to be up by four percent over last year.

Tom Scott with the Michigan Retailers Association says this is a critical five-week stretch for many store owners.

“It’s probably 20 to 25% of a retailers’ business of the year…depending on what kind of retailer they are,” says Scott,  “If they’re a toy store….it could be 50% or more.”