More shoppers go online for Black Friday bargains

Black Friday PlaybookAction News found a steady stream of shoppers who came and went all night long at the Gloucester Premium Outlets in Blackwood, New Jersey, which opened at 6 p.m. Thursday.

The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales in November and December to increase 3.7 percent to $630.5 billion. Context, the IT supply chain analyst, said that 77,000 laptops were imported to United Kingdom distributors in the final week of October – some 30,000 more than the same period previous year and the highest weekly figure on record.

“Today, stores opened at 8am welcoming a steady flow of early birds, many of whom had researched their purchases online before heading into town”.

Deep discounts are what draw people out, like an 32-inch Roku TV for $125 dollars and Beats by Dre headsets for half price. The weekend, which includes Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and the Sunday yet unclaimed by any interest group, is expected to draw 136 million shoppers to brick-and-mortar stores. Those numbers are roughly in line with previous year.

“If we run out in the store, we immediately go right online, and then some of the great key items we’ve had we run out online, too”.

“It’s my first time doing it, I hope they do it more often”, he said as he waited for the doors to open in front of rows of signs advertising the sales. About 15,000 people clamored to get inside the Macy’s Herald Square location in NY when its doors opened at 6 p.m. Thursday, which is about the same as previous year.

Jeff Simpson, the director of the retail practice at Deloitte, reasoned the drop in retail sales on Black Friday was due to the fact that retailers “have taken the sense of urgency out for consumers by spreading their promotions throughout the year and what we are seeing is a result of that”. Some shoppers enjoy it for more than just the savings, however, and that’s what keeps them coming back each year.

“No way. No way, I am not going near those stores on that day”, he said.

Don’t buy _ until Black Friday: The day after Turkey Day tends to be mostly hype, but for a select few stores and tech items, Friday should be buy-day. “There’s just a couple video games I’m looking for”.

In Kennesaw, one of metro Atlanta’s largest malls took on the feel of a slumber party early Friday morning.