©Reuters. Shoppers outside a Target store in Chicago on Friday. Photograph: Jim Vondrowska/Reuters.
Raleigh, North Carolina/New York (Reuters) – After Thanksgiving turkey on Thursday, shoppers were expected to flock to US stores in record numbers to grab Black Friday deals, but the busiest shopping day of the year year has not been seen. numbers on shop doors as the weather cools.
“Only about 20 people have stopped by the kiosks so far,” said Jimena Silva, an employee at Target (NYSE: ) in Raleigh, North Carolina, who saw heavy rain between 6 and 8 on Friday.
Silva, 23, added that the number of customers in the shop was higher in previous seasons, but he expects more customers to arrive later on Friday.
According to the National Association of Retailers, about 166.3 million people plan to shop from Thanksgiving to the following Monday, about eight million more than last year.
But with occasional rain in parts of the country, shops were less crowded than expected on Black Friday morning.
A report from Adobe (NASDAQ:) Analytics showed that US shoppers’ spending on online purchases increased 3% on Thanksgiving this year, with mobile purchases leading the increase. Black Friday online sales are projected to hit nine billion, a modest 1% increase from last year.
Retail companies are offering steep discounts, both online and in their stores, which could hurt margins in the fourth quarter of the year.
(Prepared by Mahmoud Abdel Gawad for the Arab Bulletin – Edited by Duaa Mohamed)
