Online sales thin Black Friday crowds
Devon Ackerlund arrived at Target before sunrise, expecting the cutthroat crowds of Black Friday lore.
The Houston hospital worker finished his overnight shift and entered the store just after it opened, seeking a holiday doorbuster for the first time in his life. He had no competition as he located the display of Google Home Minis and dropped six small boxes into a big red cart.
“This is great,” he said. “I thought it would be gone.”
More than ever, this year’s Black Friday encapsulated trends that have reshaped the retail industry at a time when convenience is king and promotions never end. Thanksgiving Day store openings and online sales again eroded foot traffic on the storied consumer holiday, which is expected to set an e-commerce record this year.
Adobe Digital Insights forecasted online sales to hit $5 billion Friday, up about 18 percent from 2016. And Cyber Monday, once Black Friday’s little-known sibling, is expected to be the largest online shopping day ever, with $6.6 billion in sales.
“Those two are really converging this year, with many consumers doing their shopping on Cyber Monday and Black Friday or even
earlier,” said Natalie Kotlyar, consumer business leader for BDO.
The unstoppable online migration had challenged retailers to compete with rock-bottom prices and perks like free shipping, which an increasing number of consumers now expect as Amazon and other e-commerce giants offer near-instant gratification.
Analysts again expect a season of heavy promotions and logistics battles to speed orders to the doorstep.
That poses a particular challenge for malls, which have for years been losing foot traffic alongside their department stores tenants.
Even the Houston Galleria, a high-performing shopping center, wasn’t packed with shoppers Friday morning.
In-store pickup
Already, consumers have spent more than $30 billion online this month, nearly 18 percent more than last year. Both Amazon and Walmart, locked in a price war, began rolling out deals weeks ago before offering some of their lowest prices during the Black Friday weekend.
Technology research firm GBH Insights estimated that Amazon, the retail industry’s fiercest online competitor, might have grabbed as much as 50 percent of Black Friday sales. The company’s stock soared 2.6 percent Friday to $1,186.
More traditional retailers, though, have found success with an option that e-commerce retailers don’t offer: in-store pickup. At Target, much of the store’s Black Friday activity took place behind the scenes as employees scrambled to bag hundreds of online orders, a popular option that enabled the store to beat its Thanksgiving forecasts even before it opened that day, said store manager Cameron Dennington.
“We’ve done more business in here this year, but we’ve had less foot traffic with the higher demand for order pickup,” he said.
Charlie O’Shea, lead retail analyst for Moody’s Investors Service, spent much of Thursday and Friday assessing the crowds at several malls and shopping centers in the Pennsylvania suburbs where he lives. All of the usual suspects, including Best Buy, Toys R Us and Kohls, were packed for much of the day, he said.
The pickup counters for online orders were just as busy, he noted, a trend retailers hope will encourage more crossover between digital and physical purchases.
“Those areas are very active in the stores I’ve been in,” he said. “That tells me that brick-andmortar stores are leveraging that asset.”
Traditionalists and thrillseekers, however, still opted to browse in-store on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, long considered the official start of the holiday shopping season.
Brittany Williams, in search of the Nintendo Switch gaming system, was first in a short line when Target opened at 6 a.m. She arrived at the checkout counter an hour later with a heavy cart filled with electronics, clothes and a $10 Crockpot she couldn’t pass up.
She remembers the days, years ago, when she waited for hours in the dark of night to snag the doorbusters. It was a tradition she shared with her mom, who died when she was a teenager.
“I’ve tried to keep it alive since then,” she said.
Patricia Ybarra, 63, visited Toys R Us, a store in need of some holiday cheer. The company filed for bankruptcy protection to restructure more than $5 billion in debt.
Ybarra hadn’t visited the iconic toy store in 25 years. But on Friday, when a friend asked her to join in on Black Friday shopping, she wholeheartedly agreed.
“I feel like a kid in a candy store,” she said.
The Best Buy on Richmond Avenue grew steadily more crowded as shoppers swarmed around high-tech televisions with brilliant displays, long a Black Friday draw.
“I always see a lot of TVs coming out of the stores,” O’Shea said. “How many TVs can you fit in a shopping cart?”
Nati Hunde stood in a short line at the checkout counter with a stack of three deeply discounted Lenovo laptops. He saves his big-ticket purchases for Black Friday every year.
“That’s the only way to save money,” he said.
It used to be a much bigger time commitment, he said. He would stand in line for hours only to battle the crowds inside. But this year, he only had to wait five minutes.
Seeing a pattern of decline
Mitzi Mellenthin, a regular Black Friday shopper, started at the Galleria at 6:30 a.m. She knew exactly what she wanted: The 2,194 piece Lego set of the Creator Palace Cinema that’s going out of stock.
Over the years, she said, Black Fridays have thinned, a pattern she attributes to online sales and the Thanksgiving rush. No matter how good the Thursday night deals may be, however, you won’t find her out shopping that day.
“I just don’t think it’s right,” she said. “You should be with family.”
At Target, though, more shoppers lined up on Thursday evening than on Friday morning. Store manager Dennington said about 300 people waited for the store to open at 6 p.m. for a sixhour rush to grab storage goods, cosmetics and stationery for the holiday season.
Ackerlund, after finding the Google Home Minis, scoured the sale flyer, pleased to complete his Black Friday shopping in peace. He had already bought a Christmas tree at Walmart that morning, which he said was also nearempty when he arrived.
“I really thought there would be more people,” he said.