Slack Friday: As buying options expand, prime retail day wanes

HARLINGEN — Like so many things, Black Friday doesn’t seem to be all it used to be.

Sale signs were everywhere yesterday — 20 percent off at Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Kirkland’s, Buy One get One Half-Price next door at Shoe Carnival.

But the parking lots of major retailers, at least by late morning yesterday, were no more packed than on a busy Saturday. At Kohl’s, J.C. Penney, Marshalls and Bed, Bath and Beyond, plenty of spaces were available, and some weren’t too far away from the front doors.

Sara Cazares of Houston was visiting family for the holiday and turned out for some shopping with her mother at Kohl’s. It didn’t seem very busy to her, either.

“Everybody came yesterday,” said Cazares, noting many retailers which used to be closed Thanksgiving Day are now open for business, further depressing Black Friday’s sales numbers.

Target, which was offering a deal of spend $50 and receive a 20-percent off coupon in the mail for a future purchase, seemed to be the busiest yesterday morning.

Many of these brick-and-mortar retailers are losing sales to online businesses, which are expected to take in about 18 percent of all money spent on retail items this holiday season.

Many of the most successful online retailers, like Amazon, are going the other way and opening brick-and-mortar locations like Amazon’s B&M bookstore.

“Warby Parker started selling eyeglasses online, and now has 20 stores. Bonobo’s men’s clothing store lets men try on the clothes in-store, then ships to your home,” said Michael Minor, chair of the Department of Marketing at UTRGV’s Robert C. Vackar College of Business and Entrepreneurship.

“Warby Parker and Bonobo’s are essentially showrooms, although you can buy the product,” he added via email. “The buzzword is ‘omnichannel.’”

Many traditional retailers, particularly Walmart, are fighting back by improving and promoting their own online sales capabilities.

Adobe Analytics is forecasting that for the first time Cyber Monday sales will top Black Friday sales, and it could be the largest shopping day in U.S. history.

Online sales, Adobe says, are forecast to be $6.6 billion the Monday after Thanksgiving, topping this year’s Black Friday event which is expected to total $5 billion.

Retailers are hoping for a better-than-average holiday shopping season, and were eager to see holiday sales for November match October’s retail numbers.

October sales were up 4.3 percent year-over-year unadjusted, according to calculations by the National Retail Federation. The numbers exclude automobiles, gasoline stations and restaurants.

The NRF predicts 69 percent of Americans — an estimated 164 million people — are planning to shop or considering shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to an annual survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights and Analytics.

For the first time in survey history, the numbers include Cyber Monday in addition to Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Sunday.

“This year, we updated our survey to more accurately capture consumer behavior throughout the entire shopping weekend — Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Consumers will benefit from competitive promotions both in stores and online lasting the course of the weekend, allowing them to find the best gifts at the lowest prices.”

Of those considering shopping the long holiday weekend, the survey found that 20 percent planned to shop on Thanksgiving Day (32 million) but Black Friday will remain the busiest day with 70 percent planning to shop then (115 million).

A substantial 43 percent are expected to shop today (71 million), with 76 percent saying they will do so specifically to support Small Business Saturday. On Sunday, 21 percent expect to shop (35 million) and 48 percent are expected to shop on Cyber Monday (78 million).

Of those shopping, 66 percent said they’re doing so to take advantage of deals and promotions retailers will offer, while 26 percent cited the tradition of shopping over Thanksgiving weekend and 23 percent said it’s something to do over the holiday weekend.

Another 23 percent said it is when they start their holiday shopping.