Black Friday may not be the peak shopping day it once was, and it’s all thanks to online shopping.
Many stores are opening earlier than ever this year, starting the holiday shopping frenzy on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. Best Buy, JCPenney and Toys R Us will open at 5 p.m. Thanksgiving Day, an hour earlier than Target, Sears, Kohl’s and Macy’s.
But what’s the reason for these earlier openings? For many years, online stores had Thanksgiving all to themselves. Then retailers saw their market share fall, and decided to open their doors on the holiday. Now retailers face pressure to open earlier or risk losing customers to those that do.
Some retailers are taking a stand against this trend, and refusing to open their doors on Thanksgiving. Costco, T.J.Maxx and Barnes and Noble are among the companies that have decided it is in the best interest for their employees and customers to stay home and enjoy Thanksgiving Day with their families.
Beginning “Black Friday” sales even earlier has changed the Thanksgiving shopping frenzy, ending it a little sooner than in past years.
“What used to be a Friday-Saturday-Sunday blitz has turned into a Thursday-Friday-little-bit-of-Saturday blitz,” Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at market researcher NPD Group, said.
After decades as the biggest shopping day of the year, (“overtaking Super Saturday” — the Saturday before Christmas back in the 90s) Black Friday may be going a little gray. Last year’s Black Friday sales were down 13.2% from 2012, and fewer than a third of Americans say they’ll shop on Black Friday this year.
With a later Thanksgiving this year shortening the holiday shopping season, retailers are more likely to offer better deals in order to get more shoppers into their stores. And this year, many of those deals are starting even before Thanksgiving. Wal Mart began offering Black Friday sales on November 21.
As for online shoppers, the best day to shop is Thanksgiving Day, with discounts averaging about 24%.
“That was a surprise to us.” said Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst at Adobe Digital Index. “We thought it would be Black Friday.”
And while Cyber Monday is supposed to be the Black Friday of online shopping, many expectant shoppers may find themselves disappointed. Not only are prices back to pre-holiday levels by Monday, but many shoppers will find that the items they’re seeking are “out of stock,” after the Black Friday sales.
“Cyber Monday is one of the worst days to go shopping online,” Gaffney said.
However, online shopping is expected to be higher than ever this year, as many shoppers are put off by images of chaotic Black Friday events. People would rather stay at home in their pajamas and do their shopping, resulting in the average shopper expected to do 44% of their holiday shopping online this year, the highest yet. This may be due, in part, to the fact that 67% of shoppers also feel that shopping online gives them a wider variety of options.
Locally, Eastview Mall in Victor will be officially opening a 6 a.m. on Black Friday. However, many of its stores are opening even earlier. Old Navy will be the first to open, at 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, followed an hour later by JCPenney and Best Buy.
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