Black Friday is back – even if many of the big deals aren’t back with it.
Millions of Americans were expected to visit the stores after Thanksgiving, with the withdrawal of the corona and the return of the people to the habits they had before the epidemic. This is a change in trend from the last two years, when most purchases were made online. But this year many households were hit by the prices of fuel and food.
Early signs indicate a low level of activity compared to last year. People spent $5.3 billion online on Thanksgiving Day, up 2.9% from last year’s holiday, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks spending on websites. Adobe expected that online shopping on Black Friday itself would reach an amount between 9 and 9.2 billion dollars, an increase of 1% to 3% from last year.
● Black Friday meets inflation: worldwide it is estimated that online orders will drop by 7%
● Amazon’s troubles: Buyers are already less satisfied with their shopping experience
Gabriela Peria, a 26-year-old substitute teacher from Yonkers, New York, was at her local Kohl’s at about 5 a.m. to take advantage of Christmas shopping deals. Among other things, she said that after two years in which she avoided the Black Friday tradition because of the epidemic, “I’m tired of shopping on the Internet.” She and her friends wanted to go out this year. “We want to go out and touch things, see them and get them right away,” she said. When she arrived at the store, about six employees gathered near the store entrance and greeted customers. There were no queues at the cash registers, and signs posted discounts on all products in the store.
With many stores closed on Thanksgiving, retail stores were bracing for a big surge on Friday. Sales, excluding car dealerships, were expected to increase by 15% compared to last year’s Black Friday, according to MasterCard’s SpendingPulse, which measures in-store and online sales across all types of payments. Sales in brick-and-mortar stores were expected to increase by 18% on Black Friday, while online sales were expected to increase by 3.7%, MasterCard said.
“This is the closest to a normal Black Friday we’ve had in several years,” said Stephen Lebowitz, CEO of mall operator CBL & Associates Properties.
Consumers are affected by inflation
Many sellers began offering deep discounts in October to get rid of excess inventory after supply chain bottlenecks eased. But these promotions were not enough to entice buyers due to growing concerns about inflation and the state of the economy. Macy’s, Kohl’s Corp and other chains said sales slowed in October and early November as people delayed holiday shopping, though business picked up in recent weeks as cold weather blanketed the Northeast and other parts of the US.
On Wednesday, the University of Michigan released its consumer sentiment report, which fell 5.2% compared to October and 15.7% compared to November 2021. “Along with the continued impact of inflation, consumer attitudes are affected by rising borrowing costs, declining asset values and weakening expectations in the labor market,” she said. Survey director Joan Sue.
One victim of the plague that did not return in full force was the ‘door buster’ sales: these are sales in which products are offered at large discounts for a limited time, usually in the early morning hours, with the aim of attracting consumers to stores. Consumers in previous years lined up for deals on big-screen TVs, electronic gadgets and other products. Sometimes the consumers became dangerous, as crowds thronged the stores and tried to grab products before they ran out (hence the origin of the name – door buster).
“Doorbreak deals scare people,” said Marshall Cohen, chief industry consultant at market research firm NPD Group. “They don’t want to fight the crowds and get up at four in the morning.”
Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Macy’s are among the chains that stopped doing these types of promotions during the pandemic, when they had to limit the amount of shoppers in the store at a given moment due to public health reasons. The chains moved to promoting products that lasted for a longer period of time, sometimes all day or even a week.
“Everything on sale has been advertised all week,” said Diana Amua, 25, who visited a Best Buy branch not far from her home in the Bronx, New York, with her sister Barbara, who wanted to buy a TV and headphones. The nurses used to go out early in the morning for door-breaking operations, but since the corona virus they don’t do that anymore.
Steel barriers for queuing stood outside the entrance to Best Buy, which opened at 5 in the morning. Only 20 people came to the opening of the store.
Target has been posting new deals every Sunday since October, including Black Friday deals available this week. Walmart started offering “Black Friday deals for many days”, starting on November 7. Best Buy’s Black Friday sales began on November 20. Macy’s began offering early access to deals on November 7th, and all Black Friday deals were in effect from November 20th to November 26th.
“We’ve had complaints from customers who specifically came in only to find that the item they wanted to buy is out of stock,” Macy’s CEO Jeff Gannett said of the door-busting deals. “People want to shop when they want to shop. They don’t necessarily want to come in the morning time window.”
Ariana Odell, a 32-year-old songwriter from Manhattan, bought a dishwasher in October at a 30% discount as a Christmas present for herself. “I thought to myself, maybe I should wait until Black Friday,” she said, “but I didn’t want to be up until midnight on Thanksgiving.”
People are finding creative ways to “stretch” their dollars
The amount of Black Friday ads that include the phrase “door buster” was about half of what it was in 2021, according to DealNews.com, a price comparison site. “The types of discounts are similar, but the chains don’t limit them to a narrow time frame,” said Julie Remhold, a consumer analyst at DealNews.com.
For example, Target is offering a 40% discount on boots and coats and a $60 discount on Beats headphones from November 24th to November 26th. Walmart had a $40 discount on a Chefman espresso machine on Friday, while supplies last. Macy’s offered discounts on everything, from handbags to bedding, until Saturday inclusive.
Inflation is still close to a 40-year high. Priya, the substitute teacher, said she needed discounts to be able to afford to buy Christmas presents this year because rising food prices had stretched her budget to the limit. “At this point we have to save everything we have,” she said, “but we still want Christmas to be warm and fun.”
Some people are finding creative ways to stretch their dollars, when everything from toys to coasters to hot drink cups costs more than once. Kate Lacroix of Boulder, Colorado, used American Express points to buy gifts, including books, a bathrobe and a microphone for Lacroix. “I plan to use the points for all my holiday shopping this year,” said the 48-year-old food marketing manager.
Not all chains gave up the door-breaking promotions. Amazon offered such deals as part of a Black Friday sale that lasted 48 hours and began Thursday morning, including children’s pajamas for $10 and ski equipment at prices starting at $15.
The first 200 people to enter Kohl’s stores when the chain opened its doors at 5 a.m. Friday had a chance to win prizes such as a Samsonite suitcase or travel tickets and access to the Goland website.
In the J.C. Penney network, they brought back the door-breaking coupons after a two-year hiatus. The coupons, valid for the day, were given to the first people in line when stores opened at 5 a.m. on Black Friday. The amount of coupons varied from branch to branch, according to the chain’s management. They were worth $10 on a $10 purchase, $100 on a $100 purchase, and $500 on a $500 purchase, and were only valid on Friday.
“We’re gearing up for Black Friday to come back this year,” said Michelle Laszlo, chief merchandise officer at JC Penney. “People will want to go shopping.”
Tonya Lambert, 53, did some of her shopping on Friday at The Domain store in Austin, Texas with her home. Lambert said that while she’s not a heavy Black Friday shopper, she enjoys going out for fun and was able to find good deals on toys and jewelry without having to hit the stores early in the morning. “I still think people do most of their shopping online,” Lambert said. “There are people outside, but the feeling is like any other day.”
Some sales managers said that they are preparing for a strong season towards the end, especially because Christmas falls on a Sunday this year. This will allow people to buy last minute gifts on the Friday and Saturday before the holiday. The longer shoppers wait to shop, the more restless the chains will become, and the more likely they will make bigger discounts, sales executives said.
“As good as the deals are right now, they’re only going to get better,” said Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Overstock.com.