Why wait for Black Friday?

At the start of the first holiday shopping season since the election of Donald Trump as president on November 8, consumers loosened their purse strings and spent $1.15 billion online between midnight and 5pm on Thursday, according to Adobe Digital Index.

It was the second time the shop had tried the initiative and long-serving fitter Meg Jay said it had proved more successful this year, with a 20% increase in sales.

Stores open their doors Friday for what is still one of the busiest days of the year, even as the start of the holiday season edges ever earlier. “I’m like “maybe I can resist, ‘” one shopper said”.

Best Buy may have accommodated shoppers on Thanksgiving Day an hour earlier than Walmart but it will also be closing earlier than the retailer.

President-elect Donald Trump also stepped into the online sales excitement.

Thanksgiving Day online sales totaled $1.93 billion, showing growth of 11.5%, Adobe reported.

Indeed, Thanksgiving has become a shopping day that rivals both #Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the volume of online shopping.

IBD’S TAKE: Looking for great holiday season deals on stocks?

The Black Friday madness didn’t stop millions from hitting the streets and shopping early Friday morning.

And after spending plenty of time in the center of the action, I can tell you this: There are a lot of misconceptions about what these events are actually like and about what their significance is in the retail industry.

“I buy a lot of stuff online, but when it comes to technology, I want to see and feel what I’m buying”, the 25-year-old Jackson Township resident said.

Kohan’s group expects holiday sales to climb 3.2 percent compared with past year.

Target reported more than 60 percent of its online sales came from mobile customers, while Amazon reported mobile orders on Turkey Day exceeded Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday previous year. Shoppers walk by signage advertising Black Friday sales at Dolphins Mall in Doral, Fla., Thursday, Nov. 24, 2016. This fact is neither good nor bad for Black Friday’s fate.

Over the past few years, retailers have worked to offer distinct in-store experiences – doorbuster sales, special gift bags – to better compete with the online shopping experience.

So determined were mall shoppers to get into Victoria’s Secret and Pandora, they waited in lines at the entrances because there were too many shoppers already in the shops. “We try to bring one of the kids with us every time”.

But just how much profit are retailers missing out on by not opening their doors on Thanksgiving?

Shoppers lined up at stores across the nation starting before dawn in search of bargains on everything from blouses to big-screen TVs as part of the Black Friday shopping ritual.

Kiki Lawer, manager of artisan clothes shop Sahara, in The Traverse, said: “It’s quite hard because it coincides with the Christmas Fayre”, she said.

But its popularity has been on the wane given the emergence of online shopping and cheap deals through the year from retailers including e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc.

Shoppers were on the hunt for deals and were at the stores for entertainment Friday. But its popularity has been on the wane with the rise of online shopping and cheap deals throughout the year.