The new Black Friday: Shopping kickoff has evolved, expanded
Black Friday sales have been going on for weeks, and more stores than ever will be open today, on Thanksgiving Day. So is Black Friday even a big deal anymore?
It definitely is.
Suburban stores (and parking lots) will still be jammed with bargain-seeking customers, stores will offer great deals, newspapers will brim with sales ads, and families will carry on their holiday shopping traditions.
For thousands of us, the rush, the crowds and the sales are just part of the romance and joy of the season.
But Black Friday is different now than it was even just a few years ago. It's evolved and expanded. The biggest shopping day of the year is now more like a five-day weekend, and it includes Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Giving Tuesday.
Black Friday sales are now online as well in stores, and shoppers can use all sorts of new technology to find the best deals. But most notably, much of the excitement is starting long before the Thanksgiving turkey's even in the oven.
“The past two weekends, (the number of shoppers) has already increased and it's very busy. The shoppers have already been coming out to Woodfield,” said Heather Lloyd, Woodfield's director of marketing and business development, noting that the mall's parking lot was filled to capacity on last year's Black Friday.
Black Friday once was the one day when the best deals were available. That made shopping into something of a blood sport and often required arriving at stores in the middle of the night to secure a spot in line for the best deals.
However, competition among retailers diffused the event by eliminating the starting line, which used to be 4 a.m. or 6 a.m. Friday, said Brad Wilson of Chicago, CEO and founder of BradsDeals.com.
“Now, the heart of Black Friday is 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday evening,” Wilson said. “It's great for consumers and a bad place for retailers, because it's so competitive.”
While some people scoff at the idea of stores being open on Thanksgiving Day, the number of people who shop on the holiday is growing exponentially, according to the National Retail Federation. Roughly 45 million people went shopping on Thanksgiving Day in 2013, up 27 percent from the year before, and that number is expected to be even higher this year with more stores opening on the holiday.
Woodfield Mall, for example, is opening at 6 p.m. today — two hours earlier than last year. Geneva Commons is opening on Thanksgiving night for the first time. And other suburban malls have specific chains opening as early as 4 p.m. on Thanksgiving.
The average shopper plans to spend $804, up nearly 5 percent over last year's $767. And a record-high 56 percent plan to shop online, also up from last year. People spent more online — the average online shopper plans to spend $931.75 this year, according to the NRF.
With the use of new technology — such as price comparison apps, websites that compile all of the retail sales ads, and retailer deals offered through social media and mobile marketing campaigns — the competition will be as fierce as ever.
That's good news for people who aren't interested in after-the-meal shopping, or shopping at all. The entire Black Friday weekend will be a great time to find bargain prices, experts say.
While a 2012 Wall Street Journal investigation found that Black Friday does not necessarily have the lowest prices of the year on many items, most retailers will slash prices.
“The prices do sort of bottom out over Thanksgiving weekend,” Wilson said. “It's actually a time when you don't need to be a great consumer. You don't need to think all that hard about how to get a good deal this weekend. You just show up. But if you invest a little bit of time, you can do better than the average person.”