Wal-Mart said it expects record crowds on Friday, even though it’s putting most of its discounts online first.
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“Last year I think the industry embraced Black Friday with tremendous enthusiasm and dived in”, the consumer analyst said. She added that online purchases made up almost 90 percent of her total shopping this year.
“In addition 10% of the Black Friday day’s sales take place in the peak hour”.
Target’s CEO Brian Cornell said online sales on Thanksgiving were strong, outpacing the performance on the holiday a year ago.
The data, without year-over-year comparisons, paints an incomplete picture of the behavior and spending of US shoppers over the weekend.
A huge number of Americans chose to take advantage of online sales rather than going out to stores on Black Friday, and they accessed these sales via their smartphones and tablets rather than using their desktop computers.
“But this weekend is not the end-all-be-all; it’s important to remember, there will be several important weekends to keep an eye on before we wrap up the holiday season”.
Black Friday has turned into Black November as retailers began promoting earlier in the month in attempt to pull forward holiday sales following a slow start to November, driven by unfavorable weather and a lack of apparel newness.
Many shoppers walked out with TVs – some with more than one. They report annual online revenues of £1.4 billion and here at Capacitas we typically see 2% of demand taking place on Black Friday.
Many consumers said they prefer to look for bargains online.
One major drawback is the lack of cultural relevance: Thanksgiving does not exist in the United Kingdom and Black Friday has been introduced into the United Kingdom market as an entirely random happening.
It appears American’s are wasting no time getting into the holiday spirit.
The Bookseller Association’s president Tim Walker thought up the concept for bookshops, many of them struggling with the the competition from Amazon, which is often credited with importing Black Friday to the UK. The only reason she came to the West View Kmart on Friday was to help her mother get a deal on an artificial Christmas tree marked down 70 percent to $15.
In Chicago, hundreds of protesters upset at the shooting death of a black 17-year-old by a white police officer blocked shoppers from entering some of the city’s marquee stores. “There’s always some kind of deal in-store or online”. “There’s just a couple video games I’m looking for”.
Well, the answer lies in many other factors, including under-reported figures on online sales, a cautious consumer, very low inflation, and pricing competition.
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Chances are you’ll find slightly different products on Cyber Monday to replace ones that have already sold on Black Friday.
