Black Friday slows as Thanksgiving shopping grows

While consumer spending in brick and mortar stores on Friday is expected to exceed 2015 numbers, online retail is predicted to grow even faster, says Jill Gonzalez, who tracks retail sales for Wallet Hub.

After what appeared to be a strong turnout for Thanksgiving sales, some early morning reports indicated that traffic to malls was slower on Black Friday than previous year as retailers are spreading out deals throughout the week. Thursday was also one of the year’s top online shopping days for Wal-Mart. So it is worth to spare a minute to check those offerings to see if the item you’re wishing for is already on sale and eventually avoid all that frenzied Black Friday crowd.

Some shoppers say the stores aren’t as crowded as they anticipated. I nstead, just a handful of customers waited in line outside many superstores before calmly purchasing cut-price electrical goods.

If you plan on shopping on Black Friday or during this holiday season, police warn you to be smart and lock your auto and move all valuables including new purchases out of sight. This saves time and increases your chances at securing all the deals you are keen on getting.

Several simply walked past open stores reading signs on available discounts.

Black Friday may be losing its urgent appeal, evolving instead into a more strung-out buying process in the run-up to Christmas, analysts have warned.

The Best Buy store in Minot was one that opened its doors Thursday night.

In a statement emailed to The Associated Press, it said it surveyed store employees well in advance about their preferences.

Brian Motzko is making his usual trip to the Mall of America in Minnesota early Friday while visiting relatives for Thanksgiving.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is planning to visit the Toy Chest on Farmington Avenue in West Hartford Center Friday afternoon to talk about legislation he plans to introduce to crack down on the use of bot technology to quickly snatch up online deals.

According to retailers, shoppers are deserting the high street as they increasingly hunt for deals online.

He goes on to explain that the name “Black Friday” is used to indicate a selling period, not a day.

Both are retail events originating in the USA in which many products are offered at reduced cost to shoppers or have additional sales incentives attached.

United Kingdom retailers will be hoping the promotions kick-start Christmas trading, building on a strong October when cold weather and Halloween boosted sales.

“Today’s really the first step in the battle”, Kevin Quigg, chief strategist at ACSI Funds, told CNBC. The company recently invested in revamping its web and mobile sites in advance of the holiday season.