FEWER CROWDS, MORE CAUTION
Black Friday shoppers doing more business online during pandemic
A long line snaked across a packed parking lot at the Mission Valley Best Buy on Black Friday.
But shoppers in the queue weren’t waiting to get into the electronics store. They were waiting to pick up items they’d already purchased online.
The holiday shopping season has long swirled around Black Friday. And on the day after Thanksgiving 2020, despite the pandemic’s continuing spread, it was clear people were getting their shopping in.
Many of them were just doing most of the work from home.
According to data from Adobe Analytics, online shopping hit a new Thanksgiving Day record, jumping 21.5 percent from last year to $5.1 billion. Adobe, which scans 80 percent of online transactions across the top 100 U.S. web retailers, forecast that online spending would hit $8.9 billion on Black Friday, a jump of 20 percent from last year.
Retail’s shift to a digital shopping cart was on full display at Fry’s Electronics off Interstate 15. The colossal store is known for its Black Friday crowds. Last year, a line of shoppers was eagerly waiting when the doors first opened.
This year, the parking lot was nearly empty. Inside the store, the carts that were most full were being pushed by employees who were busy filling online orders.
A deal so good it’s worth rolling out of bed for at 5 a.m. has long been a hallmark of Black Friday. But these days, many of those deals can be found online — some as early as October.
“Online is really the best way to shop these days,” said Ryan Wilson.
Under his arm, the 37-year-old was carting a 24-inch, curved Samsung computer monitor that he snagged for $99. Wilson found the monitor a couple of days ago and scheduled it for pickup on Friday morning.
The only thing he purchased inside the store was a bag of Cheetos.
A growing penchant for online shopping may have been a bit of a boon for retail spaces that were forced to contend with state regulations designed to limit the spread of COVID-19. San Diego County’s case totals place it in California’s most restrictive, purple tier, meaning retail stores are required to operate at or below 25 percent capacity.
At a Walmart in National City, employees at the door were using
“I think the whole shift away from in-person shopping is happening in front of our eyes.”
Joe Casciani • Mission Valley shopper