Thirty million Americans shopped online or in stores on Thanksgiving Day, while 99.7 million will shop on Black Friday, the National Retail Federation estimates.
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Retail giant Amazon reported record figures on Friday, with more than 7.4 million items ordered, leading to its biggest sales day ever in the UK.
The hunt for the best bargains started Thanksgiving night and continued into what’s become the premier day for discount shopping at brick-and-mortar stores across the country: Black Friday.
Traffic through the lakes area was busy Friday with crowds reported in area stores and parking lots sporting many vehicles from Herberger’s to Big Lots in the Westgate Mall to numerous shops and big box stores in Baxter and Brainerd.
But the NRF says that almost 80 percent of consumers, or a potential 183.8 million shoppers nationwide, will shop on Cyber Monday this year. “I think we’ve seen the peak of it. In private, many retail CEOs wish they could wave a magic wand and do away with it”. Gerald Storch, CEO of Hudson’s Bay Company, which also operates Lord & Taylor, said the deals at the stores are even more aggressive than a year ago and include a $75 gift card with a $150 in-store purchase.
Yet again, trend experts say there’s no single item that’s making shoppers run to stores.
Woodall said 16 of the mall’s stores stayed open all night from Thursday to Friday.
The Green family credits Black Friday’s low prices as the reason they could get everything that they need this holiday season.
“If they weren’t open I wouldn’t be shopping at Thanksgiving at all”, Hormilla said.
– It’s Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving.
“I was raised this way”, Decastro said.
Crowds in some malls and shopping districts were thinner than normal on Friday, according to initial reports from both Reuters and The Wall Street Journal. Analysts at Cowen & Co said Target stood out with its “innovative promotions”, and teen retailer American Eagle Outfitters Inc saw more traffic due to store-wide discounts of 40 percent. “I’m not going to promise I will buy anything”, she said.
“The digital influence is likely to touch almost every moment in the shopper’s journey this holiday season”, said Rod Sides, vice chairman of Deloitte.
“It’s my first time doing it, I hope they do it more often”, he said as he waited for the doors to open in front of rows of signs advertising the sales.
Cyber Monday is a great online shopping opportunity for Walmart, so the retailer made a decision to give its clients a better shopping experience by moving it to a different day of the week.
“We stopped by around 2 and they were closed”, he said.
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“Small Business Saturday is bigger for us than Black Friday”, said Kyle Kemble, the manager of Uncle’s Games in downtown Spokane.
