While Black Friday has seemingly lost some of its attraction in recent years, with many shoppers opting to search for deals online rather than going in-person to hunt down products, it is still one of the busiest days for retailers across the US and even internationally.
This year, Target is offering an exclusive book devoted to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and a bonus edition of her “The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology” album, which will only be available in stores on Black Friday before customers can buy them online starting Saturday.
In Bloomington, Minnesota, The Mall of America is giving the first 200 people in line at the center’s north entrance a $25 gift card. The country’s biggest mall says it hopes to surpass the 12,000 shoppers it saw last year within the first hour of its 7 a.m. opening.
Meanwhile, Best Buy has announced an extended-release version of the doorbuster, their limited-time daily discounts which were once highly-sought-after on Black Friday before the Covid-19 pandemic, even leading to brawls amongst the crowds of shoppers at the store. Now, the electronics retailer has made doorbuster deals available on its app online and in stores every Friday since Nov. 8, with plans to continue the weekly promotion through Dec. 20.
“(Stores) are very hungry for Black Friday to do well,” Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at market research firm Circana, told ABC News. “They recognize that they’re not going to clobber and win big growth in online because the pie has gotten so competitive. They have to find a way to win in the stores.”
For the kickoff of the 2024 holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation predicted that shoppers would increase their spending in November and December by between 2.5% and 3.5% over the same period a year ago. During the 2023 holiday shopping season, spending increased 3.9% over 2022. According to the federation’s latest consumer survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, consumer spending during the winter holidays is expected to reach a record $902 per person on average across gifts, food, decorations and other seasonal items.
While analysts are predicting a solid holiday shopping season, they project it may not be as robust as last year’s, as many shoppers have adopted frugal mindsets and are being cautious with their discretionary spending despite the easing of inflation. Since there are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, retailers have been even more anxious to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk.
This holiday season, a record number of shoppers are expected to use “buy now, pay later” plans, an option that has become especially attractive at a time when Americans are still cautious about discretionary spending.
According to the data firm Adobe Analytics, shoppers are expected to spend 11.4% more this holiday season using buy now, pay later than they did a year ago. The company forecasts shoppers will purchase $18.5 billion worth of goods using the third-party services for the period Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, with $993 million worth of purchases on Cyber Monday alone. Yet, the in-person kickoff to the holiday season will also be a significant time for revenue.
“Black Friday is still an incredibly important day for retailers,” Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic, reported. “It’s important for them to be able to get shoppers into their store to show them that experience of what it’s like to browse and touch and feel items. It also can be a bellwether for retailers on what to expect for the rest of the holiday season.”
