Black Friday kicks off with smaller lines and calmer crowds as many Americans choose to shop online, and supply chain shortages means fewer bargains
This years Black Friday has kicked off with smaller lines and calmer crowds as many Americans choose to shop online, and bargains are few and far between due to supply chain shortages.
While the lines are not as packed and malls are not as chaotic as seen in the past during the retail holiday, sales are expected to go up 20 percent compared to last year, when the country was still in the midst of the pandemic.
Buoyed by solid hiring, healthy pay gains and substantial savings, customers are returning to stores and splurging on all types of items.
But the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with labor and supply shortages means prices are also set to be up to 17 per cent higher.
MASSACHUSSETS: A pair of shoppers arrive at a Kohl's before dawn on Black Friday, skipping the usual line and chaos seen during the shopping holiday
CALIFORNIA: A Black Friday shopper carries his huge flat screen television to his car after taking advantage of this year's bargains
NEW JERSEY: Black Friday shoppers pack a New Jersey Walmart, including a woman pictured packing her shopping cart with Christmas decorations
NEW YORK: Long queues of people are seen waiting outside Macy's in Manhattan, New York, waiting for their turn to go on the hunt for Black Friday deals
KENTUCKY: A man with Nike bags talks on the phone in front of a Nike store as Black Friday sales begin at The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass in Simpsonville
WESTBURY, NEW YORK: raffic cones were placed outside a Best Buy this morning in preparation for the huge numbers of shoppers expected to be on the hunt for bargains
PENNSYLVANIA: A cashier rings up a shoppers items at the King of Prussia shopping mall as early bird customers take advantage of this year's sales
GLENDALE, CALIFORNIA: Black Friday shoppers wearing face masks and packed Bath & Body Works bag wait in line to enter a store at the Glendale Galleria Mall
PENNSYLVANIA: A line of masked shoppers wait patiently for the Black Friday sales at the King of Prussia shopping mall
NEW YORK: Buoyed by solid hiring, healthy pay gains and substantial savings, customers are returning to stores and splurging on all types of items. Pictured: Shoppers line up outside a Best Buy in the dark in Manhattan, New York, as they wait to bag a bargain
NEW YORK: The fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, coupled with labor and supply shortages means prices are also set to be up to 17 per cent higher. Pictured: Huge numbers of bargain hunters were seen waiting outside Macy's ahead of the Black Friday sales in new York City
Shortages of shipping containers and truckers have helped to delay deliveries while inflation continues to creep.
The combination of not finding the right item at the right price - in addition to a labor shortage that makes it more difficult for businesses to respond to customer needs - could make for a less festive mood.
Shoppers are expected to pay on average of between 5% to 17% more for toys, clothing, appliances, TVs and others purchases on Black Friday this year compared with last year, according to Aurelien Duthoit, senior sector advisor at Allianz Research.
TVs will see the highest price hike on average, up 17% from a year ago, according to the research firm. That´s because whatever discounts available will be applied to goods that are already expensive.
'I think it is going to be a messy holiday season,' said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail.
KENTUCKY: Guests wait in line to enter an Under Armour store as Black Friday sales begin at The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass in Simpsonville
LOUISIANNA: Mary Kaiser (right) and Cherie Bazile wore special t-shirts commemorating their day of Black Friday shopping in Covington
KENTUCKY: Shoppers patiently wait for the doors of a Kate Spade store open up in The Outlet Shoppes of the Bluegrass
NEW YORK: People wait in line at Best Buy in Manhattan in preparation for the electronic store's Black Friday sales
NEW YORK: Customers are seen browsing products in a Best Buy store in Manhattan earlier this morning
PENNSYLVANIA: Shoppers pack stores for the Black Friday sales at the King of Prussia shopping mall
NEW YORK: A Black Friday shopper waits outside a Best Buy store his morning holding an umbrella while other customers leave the store
NEW YORK: One customer is seen leaving a Best Buy store this morning wheeling a large television on a cart
'It will be a bit frustrating for retailers, consumers and the workers. We are going to see long lines. We are going to see messier stores. We are going to see delays as you collect online orders.'
Meanwhile, online sales over the period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday are also predicted to reach as high as $36.4billion, up by nearly $2billion on last year.
However, not all shoppers are taking part in the shopping season this year, with the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index suggesting consumer confidence has hit a 10-year low.
And CNBC reports a survey by Deloitte has found that as many as 11.5 per cent of people are planning to sit out the holiday season by not purchasing any gifts this year.
This represents a record high since the firm first began tracking the statistic.
Their survey also found that high-income households will spend up to five times more this holiday season than low-income families.
COLORADO: After waiting in a Black Friday line for two hours, Aaron Karas (right) and Max Clifford walk out of Best Buy empty handed after failing to find graphic cards
NEW JERSEY: Two shoppers stock up on electronics at Walmart on Black Friday, including a large flat screen television on sale
TEXAS: Black Friday shoppers walk into an Academy Sports and Outdoors shortly after its opening at 5 am in Odessa
NEW YORK: An overhead image of Black Friday shoppers walking the aisles of a Best Buy store this morning in Manhattan, New York
WESTBURY, NEW YORK: This Black Friday is seen waiting in the rain with an umbrella and chair ahead of the Black Friday sales
Speaking about the finding, Deloitte's executive director Steven Rogers said: 'This tale of two holidays is a pretty good reflection of the tale of two pandemics, right?
'What starts off as a health crisis turns into a financial crisis if you're in the lower-income [bracket].'
'Those of us who have investments in 401ks did quite well. 'You can see from 2019 to 2021, the lower income group is spending almost half of what they used to spend. And the higher income group is almost double what they used to spend two years ago.'
For years, Black Friday has been losing significance amongst shoppers, and since 2011, stores jumpstarted the holiday shopping season by opening their doors on Thanksgiving to compete with Amazon and other rising online threats.
But the shift merely cannibalized Black Friday sales. The shopping bonanza was further diluted when stores started marketing Black Friday sales for the full week and then later for the month.
NEW YORK: A shop assistant discusses products with customers in a Manhattan Best Buy this morning
NEW YORK: Black Friday shoppers wait patiently at the checkouts at a Manhattan best Buy store this morning as they make the most of the deals
NEW YORK: Discount and sale posters can be seen pride of place in the full-length windows of this store in Manhattan this morning
The pandemic further diminished the importance of the Black Friday event, though some experts still believe it will again be the busiest day of the year.
Last year, retailers started to offer the big holiday sales earlier in October in an effort to spread out shopping for safety reasons and to smooth out online shipping peaks.
They also got rid of the Thanksgiving Day in-store shopping event and pushed all their discounts online.
This year, retailers are embracing a similar strategy, though they are now pushing holiday discounts in stores as well.
Despite all the challenges, experts believe that sales for the Thanksgiving week and overall season will be strong.
U.S. retail sales, excluding auto and gas, from this past Monday through Sunday are expected to increase 10% from last year and 12.2% from the 2019 holiday season, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures overall retail sales across all payment types including cash and check.
Online sales are forecast to increase 7.1% for that week, a slowdown from the massive 46.4% gain in the same period a year ago when shoppers collectively pivoted to the internet instead of shopping in person, according to Mastercard.
For the overall holiday season, online sales should increase 10% from a year ago, compared with a 33% increase last year, according to Adobe Digital Economy Index.
Sales on Black Friday are expected to surge 20% from a year ago as store traffic comes back.
SAO PAULO: Huge numbers of television screens were put out on this shop floor in Brazil yesterday in anticipation of high volume of shoppers
NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND: Holiday shoppers pack Northumberland Street as Black Friday sales bring out shoppers
SAO PAULO: Crowds of Brazilian shoppers in queue to bag a cheap deal on new televisions yesterday
For the November and December period, the National Retail Federation, the nation's largest retail trade group, predicts that sales will increase between 8.5% and 10.5%.
Holiday sales increased 8.2% in 2020 when shoppers, locked down during the early part of the pandemic, spent their money on pajamas and home goods.
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