Black Friday sales expected to set record over $12B

Target reported more than 60% of its online sales came from mobile customers, while Amazon reported mobile orders on Turkey Day exceeded Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday a year ago.

Although many stores have moved their Black Friday sales to Thanksgiving Day, many families still rush out into the crowds for the one-day event.

The record numbers bode well for Amazon and other online retailers as they gear up for what promises to be an even bigger day: Cyber Monday. She was looking for a big-screen TV at the Best Buy store in Howell Township, New Jersey.

Pink manager Haley Carpenter said her store, a Victoria’s Secret lingerie line aimed at the college set, had been jammed with customers late Thursday until 1 a.m. Friday and again after the store reopened at 6 a.m.

MA shoppers made their way to area malls and stores shortly after midnight for the traditional Black Friday kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Stores like JCPenney and Kohl’s began promoting Black Friday sales prices online earlier this week.

“It’s not really that bad, I don’t think”, said Frego of Raymore. They’re also advertising up to 50 percent purchases online and in store through Cyber Monday.

Sullivan, her two adult sons and future daughter-in-law had driven from Kirksville, Missouri to Columbia for the shopping on Thanksgiving.

“I’m too old to go in there and fight people for it”, she said.

Black Friday is here, and the holiday shoppers are already out in force. She said she planned to hit the Columbia Mall in Missouri on Friday after some shopping the night before.

Before its doors opened at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, 16,000 people had gathered at Macy’s flagship store in New York City’s Herald Square.

“Not having to deal with people everywhere!” she said.

Smaller crowds are evidence that Black Friday’s status as the busiest shopping day of the year is slowly slipping away. “This year, there is more opportunity to grow the pie”, Mr. Lundgren said. Then they drove in their rental Hyundai sedan to Sawgrass on Thursday evening to be ready to start shopping again at 9 a.m. Friday. With online shopping on the rise, more shoppers are gravitating toward Cyber Monday than ever before.

Leah Olson was at Mall of America Friday morning, following some Thanksgiving night trips to Target and a local mall. Whether it’s the deals that aren’t compelling or the potential for stampedes, the lower Black Friday participation could give Buy Nothing Day an opportunity for greater visibility. “There’s just certain places that you walk into and they just have unbelievable deals”, Ms. Pastrell said. Some 24 percent of shoppers said they chose online so they did not have to deal with traffic or lines, up from 20 percent past year.

It has become known as the busiest sales weekend of the year for most retailers.

When Black Friday moved to Thursdays, she started leaving right after dinner to go shopping. It has been a trend that people are increasingly spreading out their shopping throughout the whole holiday season instead of concentrating it on this single day.

Bierman is one of the 137.4 million people, or almost six in 10 Americans, shopping at some point over the holiday weekend, the National Retail Federation’s website reports. “I’m hoping to buy two of them, and I saw they had some real good prices, so maybe I’ll splurge on some other stuff as well”.

Hsuan Ting Lin, 20, who has been in the United States for four months attending the University of South Florida, said she chose to check out the mall to see what the Black Friday fuss was all about. “I’ve seen it way crazier than this”.