"I visited Target and Best Buy on Black Friday — and I couldn't believe how empty they were"

[enhanced_deficit]

"I visited Target and Best Buy on Black Friday — and I couldn't believe how empty they were"

Have not validated claims in this article that seems to blame this mostly on online shift. Not clear if recent tech fall due to reported drop in Apple demand/tariffs played any major role.


I visited Target and Best Buy on Black Friday — and I couldn't believe how empty they were

I couldn't believe how empty my local Target was. Business Insider/Jessica Tyler

• Black Friday isn't as crazy of a shopping day as it once was.
• Black Friday's decline is in large part due to the rise of online shopping and heavy discounting year-round.
• When we visited Best Buy and Target, traditionally two of the biggest Black Friday destinations, the stores were close to empty.

Black Friday isn't the massive shopping event it once was.
One of the biggest factors in Black Friday's declining significance is the rise of online shopping. With so many deals available online, customers no longer have to wait out in long lines for stores to open.
"54 percent of US shoppers say they are more likely to shop online during Black Friday with the biggest reasons being convenience and simplicity," Ray Wimer, an assistant professor of retail practice at Syracuse University, said in an email earlier this week.
According to RetailNext, the number of people actually visiting stores on Black Friday declined by 4.5% in 2017. Meanwhile, online sales on that day were up 16.9% compared with the previous year, Adobe Analytics data showed.
The rise of online shopping has also allowed Black Friday to begin earlier. Online shopping on Thanksgiving surged this year, according to Adobe.

Constant discounting also may be to blame. This year, Prime Day forced competing retailers like Target, Macy's, and JCPenney to offer massive Black Friday-style sales in July, taking away from the excitement of holiday deals.
When I visited a Best Buy and a Target — traditionally two of the biggest Black Friday destinations — in Westchester, New York, I was surprised to find that the stores weren't busy at all. Besides all of the big signs, it seemed like any other weekend, though they had been open for several hours the day before, Thanksgiving. Hardly anyone was waiting in line before stores opened, and the lines at the register didn't seem out of the ordinary.
Here's what it was like to shop at Best Buy and Target on Black Friday morning:



Best Buy was the first store I went to. I arrived about 20 minutes before it opened at 8 a.m.

Business Insider/Jessica Tyler


I was surprised to find the parking lot was mostly empty.

Business Insider/Jessica Tyler




I noticed arrows on the floor that started near the Apple store. I tried following them ...

... but they didn't seem to actually lead anywhere.

Business Insider/Jessica Tyler


There wasn't a single person shopping for appliances ...

... headphones, speakers ...

Business Insider/Jessica Tyler

... or smart home devices.

Business Insider/Jessica Tyler



There was a balloon that read "line starts here" halfway across the store from the registers.

But there was no one in line.

https://www.businessinsider.com/tar...otos-2018-11#there-wasnt-a-person-in-sight-19

 

[oyarde]

I went to Ace Hardware and they had both registers open . I had one person in front of me at the one I picked. Did look like they were sold out of the two pc 2.80 Stanley plier sets .

 

[oyarde]

I went to a Walmart too and bought a box of ammo and there was no line in sporting goods .

 

[dannno]

Traditional shopping stores are down 1% so far compared to last year - online sales are up 24% compared to last year.

 

[oyarde]

Traditional shopping stores are down 1% so far compared to last year - online sales are up 24% compared to last year.

That works for me . I can go to the brick and mortar with no lines then and the younger people can buy online .

 

[VIDEODROME]

So.... what about Walmart? Isn't that where the most notorious Black Friday craziness usually is?

 

[Itsback]

It was really a "black friday"

 

[PAF]

That works for me . I can go to the brick and mortar with no lines then and the younger people can buy online .

^^ ^^

 

[Brian4Liberty]

Black Friday used to have specials for 50% off or more. Now their “Black Friday” sales are around 10% off. In other words, just like any other day.

 

[oyarde]

Black Friday used to have specials for 50% off or more. Now their “Black Friday” sales are around 10% off. In other words, just like any other day.

Three years ago at Home Depot I bought some drlll bit and driver sets for around 3.00 ea . I have never seen them below 10.00 since . I should have bought a couple more of each . I could use a couple new laptops , I checked around , no real deals .

 

[oyarde]

The OP was interesting , I do not use best buy or target so I would have expected them to be busier . Sales discounts must not have been too good .

 

[Zippyjuan]

http://fortune.com/2018/11/24/black-friday-2018-online-sales/

Black Friday Breaks Records With $6.2 Billion in Online Sales

Black Friday set records this year racking up $6.22 billion in online sales, with more than $2 billion coming from smartphone sales, according to Adobe Analytics.

Online sales jumped up 23.6% over a year ago, CNBC reported. Part of the increase in sales figures could be attributed to the types of items people purchased this Black Friday. There were more “big-ticket” items on their phones, including appliances and furniture.

“Retailers have done their part to build better mobile experiences for consumers and turning nearly 10% more smartphone visitors into buyers this Black Friday versus last,” director of Adobe digital Insights Taylor Schreiner said in the report.

Adobe Analytics, which looks at transactions for 80 of the top 100 online retailers in the United States, also found that some retailers, including Target, Kohl’s, and Walmart, were adapting to the new online shopping climate better than others.

Cyber Monday is expected to bring in even more sales with projections reaching as high as $7.8 billion, which would be an 18% increase from last year, according to CNBC.

However, there is one sales trend that may have dampened Black Friday sales figures this year. For the first time, prices were as low on Thanksgiving day as they were on Black Friday, according to Adobe’s research, possibly eating into Black Friday sales.

 

[Zippyjuan]

https://www.retaildive.com/news/the-winners-and-losers-of-black-friday-2018/542208/

The winners and losers of Black Friday 2018


Thanksgiving isn't going to take over Black Friday anytime soon, but the holiday did smash expectations and set the sales weekend up for success.

Adobe Analytics disclosed that $6.22 billion was spent online by the end of Black Friday, an increase of 23.6% year over year, according to sales results emailed to Retail Dive. More importantly, this holiday season retailers aligned sale prices across multiple days and multiple channels, giving consumers choices of when to spend. Customers can now engage in traditional brick-and-mortar shopping, or they can start early in the comfort of their own homes.

That flexibility may be why there was an overall decrease in brick and mortar foot traffic, according to multiple media reports, and along with it a corresponding reduction in Black Friday horror stories of stampeding customers vying to grab a handful of in-store deals. Black Friday sales don't have to be kept under wraps anymore, and instead can be part of a larger selling strategy that begins on Thanksgiving.

"For the first time online prices on Thanksgiving Day were as low as on Black Friday with consumers taking advantage of those deals in record numbers, making Thanksgiving Day the fastest growing online shopping day," reported Adobe Analytics in a statement emailed to Retail Dive.

The announcement of sales prior to Black Friday drove a shift in consumer behavior. "Brick and mortars are finally realizing, 'You know what? We have to be agnostic as to where we get the sale. We just want the sale.' We saw a lot of that with the online sales coming out early," said Charlie O'Shea, VP senior credit officer at Moody's Investor Service, in an interview with Retail Dive.

"The brick and mortar guys — for years we would ask this question all the time — why are the prices different online than in stores? It made zero sense. You can finally get the in-store doorbusters on Thanksgiving night on the websites. And that's a watershed event," said O'Shea.

This is only the start of the shopping season, as retailers and analysts see how the numbers play out in the weeks following Black Friday. The full reckoning for the big shopping period won't be known until there is a full tally of in-store sales figures. "The sales from this weekend should indicate if they can breathe a sigh of relief because so much of the season's volume comes now, or if they need to ramp up their promotions in December beyond what they've already planned," said Sucharita Kodali, VP, principal analyst at Forrester Research.

More at link.

Also customers are aware that in the past, deals get better the closer to Christmas and there was almost an extra week to shop with Thanksgiving coming earlier giving lots of time to shop. So along with deals starting even earlier, Black Friday is becoming less significant.

 

[oyarde]

I hope Zip got me something nice .

 

[Zippyjuan]

I hope Zip got me something nice .

Twice more gooder than last year's.

 

[Todd]

You all do know that Black Friday isn't all that busy because the House of Horrors where the Nuts kill each other over a BoxMart HD TV now happens on Thanksgiving day around 6 pm at most places.

 

[Zippyjuan]

 

[Danke]

I hope Zip got me something nice .

https://magafun.com/product/pre-ord...pa&utm_term=connews&utm_campaign=buildthewall

 

[heavenlyboy34]

I hope Zip got me something nice .

This thread reminds me that you have well under a month to get me something for my birthday, uncle [MENTION=27246]oyarde[/MENTION] .

 

[acptulsa]

Another dumb fad finally waning.