Black Friday kicks off early for small business tech retailers

PLEASANTON, Calif. - Nov. 20, 2015 - PRLog -- Pleasanton, CA, November 19 2015  — With Black Friday a little more than a week away, family-owned computer retailers like Pleasanton, CA-based, PortableOne Inc., are gearing up for an early kick-off of the traditional once-a-year shopping spree.

This year, in line with hundreds of thousands of independent stores across America, laptop retailer PortableOne has began offering early discounts and special offers, that will continue through Black Friday, making a case in favor of the benefits of shopping at local, family-owned stores, rather than at crowded and typically chaotic department stores.

While the origin of Black Friday finds its roots in the traditional yearly cadence in which retailers would begin to turn a profit, large department stores have effectively leveled the plainfield, by creating a culture of “quantity over quality”. Such trend does have adverse effects on small businesses. With that said, independent retailers, like PortableOne Inc., continue to operate on the principle of “quality over quantity”, by focusing on that personal approach to customer service, that is simply impossible to experience at large department stores.

According to major commercial review sites, such as ResellerRatings, Yelp and even Google, department stores, with a specific focus on consumer electronics, are the ones displaying the highest volume of complaints, ranging from customer service, to customer support, which corroborates statistics released by the American Express Global Customer Service Barometer. The yearly survey, performed by American Express, also shows a yearly, near-exponential increase in consumers unwilling to go through automated phone methods of seeking sales or tech support, as well as a growing trend of consumers feeling less confident about the ability of a large department store to handle their concerns, compared to a smaller family-owned retailer.

Shoppers looking for a more personable experience, and most importantly, a more pleasant alternative to standing for an extended period of time in long checkout lines, will find an added perk, this year, when choosing local retailers, like PortableOne, with limited time promotions that can save consumers up to $200 on select Apple MacBook laptops, including 13 inch and 15 inch MacBook Pro, and 12 inch MacBook Retina, as well as 13 and 11 inch MacBook Air laptops, while supply lasts.

Early Black Friday promotional deals, already in effect, include the following select items:

13" MacBook Pro:

• MacBook Pro 13" Retina 2.7GHz i5, 128GB, 16GB, Iris
• MacBook Pro 13" Retina 2.7GHz i5, 256GB, 16GB, Iris
• MacBook Pro 13" Retina 2.9GHz i5, 512GB, 16GB, Iris
• MacBook Pro 13" Retina 3.1GHz i7, 512GB, 16GB, Iris

15" MacBook Pro:

• MacBook Pro 15" Retina 2.2GHz i7, 512GB, 16GB, Iris Pro Graphics
• MacBook Pro 15" Retina 2.8GHz i7, 512GB, 16GB, Dual Graphics
• MacBook Pro 15" Retina 2.8GHz i7, 1TB, 16GB, Dual Graphics

12" MacBook:

• Apple MacBook 12" 1.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core M, 256GB Flash, 8GB RAM - Silver
• Apple MacBook 12" 1.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core M, 512GB Flash, 8GB RAM - Space Gray
• Apple MacBook 12" 1.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core M, 256GB Flash, 8GB RAM - Silver
• Apple MacBook 12" 1.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core M, 512GB Flash, 8GB RAM - Silver
• Apple MacBook 12" 1.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core M, 256GB Flash, 8GB RAM - Gold
• Apple MacBook 12" 1.3GHz Dual-Core Intel Core M, 512GB Flash, 8GB RAM - Gold

11" MacBook Air:

• MacBook Air 11" 1.6GHz i5, 8GB, 128GB
• MacBook Air 11" 2.2GHz i7, 8GB, 512GB

13" MacBook Air:

• MacBook Air 13" 1.6GHz i5, 8GB, 128GB
• MacBook Air 13" 1.6GHz i5, 8GB, 512GB
• MacBook Air 13" 2.2GHz i7, 8GB, 256GB
• MacBook Air 13" 2.2GHz i7, 8GB, 512GB

More limited time deals, include $50 off iPad Air 2, a tablet that is still a favorite among consumers.

Shoppers who may be holding out for Cyber Monday deals, rather than Black Friday, will also have the opportunity to go for a local alternative, yielding the same benefits, in terms of customer service, and support, as walk-in customers of family-owned local retailers who offer online shopping options, like PortableOne, Inc. More information at http://portableone.com