After weeks of promoting early sales, retailers in the U.S. and other countries are offering even bigger discounts on Black Friday, the sales event that still reigns as the unofficial kickoff to the holiday season, even though it has lost some of its luster. tried to lure customers by promising. .
Department stores, malls, and retailers, large and small, are looking for ways to energize shoppers and drive them into brick-and-mortar stores the day after Thanksgiving, at a time when many people are browsing and purchasing online. I’m thinking.
Retail technology company Sensormatic Solutions says Black Friday remains the biggest day of the year for U.S. retail traffic as many consumers enjoy holiday shopping in person.
“Black Friday remains a very important day for retailers,” said Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic. “It’s important to bring shoppers into the store and experience what it’s like to view, touch and feel the products.”
Early Friday morning, a steady stream of shoppers flocked to Macy’s Herald Square in Manhattan, offering half off some shoes and handbags, 30% off special occasion dresses and 60% off the store’s luxury bedding brands. I found there.
Keressa Clark, 50, and her daughter Morgan, 27, who were visiting New York from Wilmington, North Carolina, arrived at 6:15 a.m. at the store that was the setting for the 1947 Christmas movie “Miracle on 34th Street.” arrived at.
“We don’t have a Macy’s where we’re from, and I’m actually shocked to see so many Black Friday sales because so many things are online,” Morgan Clark said. spoke.
Clark, who works as a nurse, feels her financial situation is better, with President-elect Donald Trump’s pending return to the White House, making about $500 more this holiday season than a year ago. He said he plans to spend $2,000.
He said he doesn’t care if prices rise next year as a result of tariffs on foreign goods that President Trump has promised to implement. “Anything that can encourage manufacturing in the U.S., I’m all for it,” Clark said.
In the U.S., analysts are expecting a solid holiday season, although perhaps not as much as last year, with many shoppers cautious about discretionary spending even as inflation eases.
For many stores, the enthusiastic crowds of past Black Fridays haven’t returned after the coronavirus pandemic. Early Friday morning, the parking spaces at a Walmart in Germantown, Maryland, were only half full. Some shoppers returned items or continued their usual grocery shopping.
Bharataraj Moruejisan, a 35-year-old software engineer, doesn’t normally shop on Black Friday, but after returning from a month-long family trip to India and jet-lagged, he decided to check out Walmart’s sale items. He said he did. He bought his 1-year-old daughter an iPad for $250 (original price was $370).
“That’s a good deal,” Moleithan said.
With five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, retailers have an even tougher time trying to get shoppers to buy early and in bulk.
Target has an exclusive book featuring Taylor Swift’s Elas Tour and a bonus edition of her album, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology, in stores only on Black Friday. It is said to be available at. Customers will be able to purchase online starting Saturday.
Best Buy has introduced an extended release version of its Doorbuster, a limited-time daily discount that has been all the rage for years and sometimes sparked brawls. The country’s largest home appliance chain has announced a doorbuster sale every Friday starting November 8th, and plans to continue the weekly promotion until December 20th.
Marshall Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana, said impulse buys and gifts for yourself are areas with the potential for significant sales growth. According to research from Circana, shoppers are three times more likely to make an impulse purchase in-store than online.
After Tara Rutherford, 53, finished her overnight nursing shift at a Manhattan hospital, she headed straight to Macy’s Herald Square to do her shopping. Rutherford, a newlywed, said she rarely shops on Black Friday due to work commitments, but it felt like a “festival.”
“This is all about me,” she said, eyeing the 40% off boots.
Black Friday is no longer just an American holiday event. Retailers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany and the UK also appealed to holiday shoppers looking to save money.
In India, about 200 Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers held a rally in New Delhi on Friday, some wearing masks of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, demanding better wages and working conditions. Similar protests were planned in other countries.
Camila Bjorkvist, 48, and her friend Tessa Goossens, 48, were in New York from the Netherlands to spend the Thanksgiving weekend with friends and shop at Macy’s. Although Black Friday has become a commercial event in the Netherlands, women say it’s not the same.
“Macy’s is special. It’s iconic,” said Goossens, who bought a Samsonite suitcase and a work suit at the sale.
The National Retail Federation predicted shoppers’ spending would increase 2.5% to 3.5% in November and December compared to the same period last year.
Vivek Pandya, principal analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said shoppers will be more interested in bargain hunting this year, which will determine what sells and when.
For example, Adobe’s analysis shows that Thanksgiving Day is the best time to shop online, with the deepest discounts on sporting goods, toys, furniture, and electronics. However, Black Friday is the best time to buy a TV online. According to Adobe Digital Insights, TV buyers at the beginning of the season saw an average discount of 10.8%, but if they wait until this Friday they can expect a 24% discount.
However, Cyber Monday is expected to be the best time to buy clothes, phones, computers and other devices online.
According to Adobe’s research, overall Black Friday weekend discounts should peak at 30% on Cyber Monday and fall to around 15% thereafter.
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Hadero reported from Germantown, Maryland.
