Hold the applause for REI Black Friday strategy

Turn an ideologically-driven wish into an actual policy and you have the perfect recipe for a successful PR strategy.

Kent-based outdoors and sporting goods chain REI announced this week that its jettisoning their plans to open for Black Friday, instead opting to pay their employees to enjoy time with their families, preferably outdoors.

“While the rest of the world is fighting it out in the aisles, we hope to see you in the great outdoors,” CEO Jerry Stritzke told his employees.

Labor activists have long decried the practice of having low-wage workers come in on holidays, particularly Black Friday, which has somehow crept into Thanksgiving Thursday for some retailers. They call the practice unfair and unjust; let the employees spend time with their families, they argue.

Now, REI is doing just that. And while the idea will be celebrated by labor activists, let’s be clear: this is about the REI brand. It makes business sense for them.

If you go to their website, they’re heavily pushing consumers to jump on Twitter and proclaim that they’re going to #OptOutside. It’s a hashtag meant to go viral and tie back directly to REI (a company that makes it’s money off of you going outside).

There is a substantial movement of consumers shopping with their ideological conscience and this singular move just branded REI as the company that shares Progressive values, while sticking to their existing brand of pushing outdoor play. They’re hoping the next time a consumer with shared values is in the market for a $319 backpack, he or she will think of REI. I’m betting the assumption is that customers will shop with them on the Saturday after Black Friday (which will essentially be their Black Friday). This is a very smart branding strategy and likely already in line with their consumer’s leanings (sorry, conservatives, I don’t think of you as being the typical REI consumer).

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Moreover, this is a business decision. REI wouldn’t close on Black Friday if they thought it would cost them significant earnings in the long run, no matter what some future press release quote will claim. REI is what it is because of smart business decisions and if this made the company suffer under co-op business model, it wouldn’t be done.

What about other companies? They become profitable (go into the black) because of Black Friday (hence the name) and it would not be a smart business move to let employees take the day off, even if it is to #OptOutside.

This decision should live in a bubble. It’s good for REI, not necessarily other companies, particularly the low-wage and low-skilled workers. As much as I’m sure those workers would like to spend the holidays with family, they might not balk at the notion of skipping out on holiday pay and overtime hours. They’re low-wage workers; you want to force a policy that puts them out of work on the busiest shopping day of the year when they could be making more money for their family? Because these are not normally the classification of employees who would (or necessarily should) qualify for paid days off.

Should REI be lauded for this move? I suppose if you think it’s a big-picture statement about worker’s rights and you support the statement, I suppose you can laud them. But this is being done, not just out of the kindness of their ideological hearts, but because it makes business sense for them. Don’t let their actions fool you into thinking other businesses can get away with the same marketing strategy.