Why retailers still see Black Friday as the high point of the holiday shopping season
After weeks of plugging increasingly inviting discounts, retailers in the United States and several other countries are preparing for prime time
NEW YORK — After weeks of plugging increasingly inviting discounts, retailers in the United States and several other countries are preparing for prime time: Black Friday, the bargain bonanza that still reigns as the unofficial kickoff of the holiday shopping season even if it's lost some luster.
Department stores, shopping malls and merchants — big and small — see the day after Thanksgiving as a way to energize shoppers and to get them into physical stores at a time when many gift-seekers are content to do their browsing online. There are enough traditionalists that Black Friday remains the biggest day of the year for retail foot traffic.
“I’m excited about it,” Texas resident Emily Phillips said while visiting the Galleria Dallas last week. “I save up all the things that I want all year and usually try and get them around Black Friday. I prefer to shop in person because then I can try stuff on. It’s a better experience.”
In the U.S., analysts envision a solid holiday shopping season, though perhaps not as robust as last year’s, with many shoppers under financial pressure and cautious with their discretionary spending despite the easing of inflation.
Retailers will be even more under the gun to get shoppers in to buy early and in bulk since there are five fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.
Mall of America, in Bloomington, Minnesota, is giving the first 200 people in line at the center's north entrance a $25 gift card. Target is offering an exclusive book devoted to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour and a bonus edition of her “The Tortured Poets Department: The
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