Shoppers are killing Black Friday
Annual shopping sprint has lost importance as consumers spread out holiday buying
It turns out consumers are not-soslowly killing Black Friday.
Fewer Americans plan to shop on Black Friday this year than in previous years, as consumers grow accustomed to deep discounts year-round.
Thirty-five per cent of consumers who plan to shop during U.S. Thanksgiving week say they will do so on Black Friday, down from 51 per cent last year and 59 per cent the year before, according to consumer markets research from PwC, the professional services giant.
“Black Friday has lost its significance,” said Steven Barr, consumer markets leader for PwC. “Retailers have conditioned the consumer to believe everything’s on sale every day, which means the deals on Black Friday are not significantly different from any other time.”
The shift comes as retailers — and shoppers — treat the holiday shopping season as more of a weeks-long marathon than a one-day sprint. Seasonal discounts have become more spread out, both in stores and online, as consumers demand lower prices and greater convenience, which means the Black Friday frenzy isn’t nearly as pronounced as it once was.
“More holidays year-round — including some that are retailer-generated — mean more opportunities for discounts and promotions,” the PwC report said. “Consequently, the decline of Black Friday is hardly news at all. Especially from its glory days heralding the start of the in-store holiday shopping season.”
Barr added that retailers are slashing prices throughout the year. Take, for example, Amazon’s much-hyped Prime Day this summer, in which the company says it generated more money than during Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year. The company did not offer specifics, but said “tens of millions” of its Prime members, who pay a $99 annual fee for the loyalty program, made a purchase on that day. (Jeff Bezos, the founder and chief executive of Amazon, owns the Washington Post.)
In all, Americans are expected to spend about $680 billion this holiday season, marking a 3.6- to 4-per-cent increase from last year’s $655.8 billion, according to estimates released Tuesday by the National Retail Federation.
“The consumer has learned that even if they don’t get a deal on Black Friday, they’ll still get that deal in the weeks to come,” Barr said. “There is no urgency anymore.”