Black Friday losing some of its gold to online
Shoppers aren’t lining up the way they used to
Whenit comes to holiday shopping sprees, Black Friday is no longer the prime event.
A new analysis finds that more shoppers are choosing to spread out their holiday purchases rather than stick with the ritual of rising before dawn the morning after Thanksgiving in order to stand in line outside a store and then shop until they drop.
During the week that includes Thanksgiving, 35% of shoppers say they intend to do most of their shopping on Black Friday this year, down from 59% in 2015, according to PwC.
Retailers are rolling out deep- discount deals, the “doorbusters” that once were the biggest draw of Black Friday, earlier in the season to get first dibs on consumer dollars. Sears and Kmart launched a sale Nov. 1 that offers loyalty members 10% to 50% off all items through Nov. 25. Walmart’s seasonal discounts began rolling out last weekend. And Target’s special weekend offers will kick off Saturday.
But all that early activity has made Black Friday, the one- time busiest shopping day of the year, less of a draw. Since 2014, the Saturday before Christmas — “Super Saturday” — has surpassed Black Friday in sales.
“We’re definitely seeing a decreased significance in Black Friday,” says Dawn Eber, PwC’s U. S. consumer markets risk assurance leader and partner. “Consumers ... are becoming more adept at their online shopping, and walking into the stores on that particular day doesn’t bear as much of a return in terms of pricing.”
Among those surveyed by PwC,
63% of shoppers said price is what most moves them to take out their wallets. That compares with 39% who said they are spurred to make a purchase by free shipping. And 37% will fill their cart based on promotions.
As Black Friday’s appeal has faded, it has given rise to a new tradition of shopping before the Thanksgiving dinner dishes have been cleared. Some 58% saying they will shop on the holiday, compared with 40% who planned to do so last year.
Being open on a day once reserved for feasting and football is just one of the ways retailers are luring shoppers in order to grab a chunk of the up to $ 1.05 trillion in sales that Deloitte is forecasting for this holiday season. Merchants also are featuring events and services that make a visit to an actual store worthwhile, instead of leaving shoppers to their keyboards.
Walmart hosted the first round of more than 20,000 holiday parties last Saturday, handing out catalogs and stickers to the youngest shoppers. Sears is guaranteeing loyalty members who head to a store to pick up an online purchase will get a $ 5 coupon off a future in- store purchase if they have to wait longer than fiveminutes.
And Target is offering cookies, hot cocoa, toy demonstrations and a photo op of a chimney made of Lego bricks.
Such experiences are necessary to grab shoppers who can now get much of what they need from online giant Amazon and other e- commerce sites.
Consumers are expected to spend roughly 6% more this holiday season as compared with last year, PwC says. And registers should keep ringing long after Thanksgiving week, with 70% of shoppers saying they won’t be done ticking off their holiday lists until after Cyber Monday.