Interviews with several major retail CEOs are also on tap, and we’ll be giving retailers such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Macy’s grades for their overall Black Friday efforts.
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A second chart establishes a very interesting comparison between Thanksgiving in the United States and the Spring Festival/New Year in China. “The football games are done, the dinner is done, you ate a lot – why not walk it off at the stores and beat the rush?” Many big retailers will be opening their doors Thanksgiving night with other stores preparing for people to line up for Black Friday deals. “The camping out the day before, camping out all day before Thanksgiving”, said customer Doug Yusker. That’s up from an estimated 760,000 who shopped the same day a year ago. According to analysts at Conlumino, UK retailers are boosting their Christmas profits and expected to make up to £1.6bn in sales this year.
According to a recent NRF study, Americans will do almost half of their holiday shopping online, with about one in five people using their smartphones to purchase gifts. Many are sure to show up, but some aren’t waiting for those deals, or will save the shopping for later. Shipping is free or you can opt for in-store pickup when available.
In terms of promotions, the extended Thanksgiving weekend has been carved up into specific days that cater to one’s shopping methods, including support for mom-and-pop businesses (hence, Small Business Saturday) over big-box stores or online retailers.
“Trying to avoid the crowds and just have better service because there are fewer shoppers in the stores”, said shopper Patt Chrissman.
“The changing patterns make sales figures hard to interpret”, writes Ben Casselman in a blog post at FiveThirtyEightEconomics titled “Black Friday Sales Numbers Are Useless and Wrong and you should ignore them”. Fortunately, the all-knowing entity known as Google has some last-minute advice for Black Friday shoppers that could give you an edge this year.
Sears – Opens 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving through 2 a.m. on Black Friday. “Which, obviously puts you behind some of the best deals, but you know, it’s insane”. That being said, if you buy that a gaming console (for an intance) at Target, you’ll get another savings for your future shopping expenses.
“Another good thing to look for is the shipping”, said Kuehner.
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Many stores will also price match.
