Spending has shifted this year, as stores decide to open up earlier than normal. Spending went up around 24% on Thanksgiving day, which bids the question, is Black Friday done? Is Black Thursday the new craze? Spending on Black Friday went down around 7%. With over $12.29 billion spent over the two day period, overall spending has also gone down in comparison to recent years. Just like spending, the amount of people who actually visited the store went up by 27% on Thursday, and down 5.6% on Black Friday. When looking at the actual numbers, the total amount spent on Black Friday still surpass the amount spent on Thursday by almost 3 times. With stores looking for an edge over their competitors, opening earlier does make sense, but does this mean Black Friday is done? And is it fair for the workers at these stores to be forced to work on Thanksgiving if this trend continues?
I definitely think more companies will respond to these numbers and have more Thanksgiving sales, however I think at some point consumers will find a balance and not completely forgo Black Friday.
ReplyDeleteI agree with John by believing that companies will react by focusing somewhat more on Thanksgiving day sales. This doesn't mean Black Friday sales will drop necessarily but I believe Thanksgiving day sales will be catered towards a little bit more. I think another reason for the sales decline on Black Friday may be due to the experience as a whole such as people fighting over products and waiting in line for hours in the cold. Maybe it is just better to buy these products earlier perhaps Thanksgiving rather than wait for the anticipation of Black Friday.
ReplyDeleteThe earlier Black Friday sales focused on Thursday have resulted in higher sales, however; the notion of Black Friday being done seems a little far-fetched to me. As mentioned earlier other factors may result in lower sales on Black Friday instead of them being just earlier.
ReplyDeleteThe stores will try and make as much money as possible whether it means opening early on Black Friday or adding Thanksgiving to the mix. I personally think Thanksgiving should be a holiday left alone for families and businesses shouldn't make their employees work but thats up to the corporation. People already waste Thanksgiving on camping out to be the first in line so maybe the stores should just be opened but then that will make people wait even earlier in the day.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason Black Friday sales are dropping could be due to the increased amount of shopping done online. Cyber Monday is another day for big discounts and it is growing as the number of online retailers grows. It will be interesting to see if Cyber Monday grows from last year to this year.
ReplyDeleteMore stores are starting to give deals a day or two before Black Friday. However, i don't think that black friday will be done due to this. This early deals create more competition and more days for people to spend. I believe early online deals will continue but early in-store deals will not. I say this because although people are consuming early, stores profit is not that great because they have to pay employees to work these days.
ReplyDeleteI believe Black Friday might be done in the future. Not immediately but eventually. There is little reason to do shopping in stores with the capabilities of online shopping. Also firms are competing with one another. If everyone is having the sales on the same day there is no advantage for any firm. If they are able to have sales before other stores do so then they are able to attract more customers to their store. The concept of Black Friday is against the strategy that most companies take so I believe in the future it will slowly fade away.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Matthew on the idea that Black Friday may be finished in the future. Having access to online shopping completely eliminates the hassle of dealing with early wake ups and large crowds.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that Black Friday might not be the same as it used to be. With evidences such as, Amazon and Target offered pre-Black Friday sale which last for 12 days in prior to the real Black Friday,and then post-Black friday sale, Cyber Monday sales come afterward. I think this should be called Cyber November sale, not just Black Friday sale
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