NEW YORK — Shoppers have been looking for the best deals in stores and online, as retailers have offered new Black Friday discounts to appeal to consumers eager to start shopping for holiday gifts but plagued by inflation.
With the prices of food, rent, gasoline, and other essentials rising, many people were reluctant to spend unless there was a big sale.
Shoppers were more selective, selecting cheaper options, investing more in their savings and turning to “buy now, pay later” services that allow for payment by instalments. Some were also maxing out their credit cards at a time when the Federal Reserve is raising rates to cool the US economy.
Sheila Diggs, 55, went to a Walmart in Mount Airy, Maryland, early Friday looking for a deal on a coffee maker and to see what else was in the aisles. She said her family is more cautious about holiday spending this year. Usually all the adults in the family gave each other gifts. But this year everyone is drawing names and selecting one person, because things cost so much more, she said.
“Everything is going up except your salary,” said Diggs, who manages medical records at a local hospital.
This year’s trends contrast with those of a year ago, when consumers bought early out of fear of not getting what they needed amid network bottlenecks. Stores didn’t have to discount much because they had trouble carrying the items.
This year, shoppers are expecting the best deals, said Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail at Salesforce, which tracks online sales. He said retailers finally responded this week, rolling out more attractive deals online after offering lackluster discounts earlier in the season.
Online discount rates were 31% on Thanksgiving, up 7% from a year earlier, according to Salesforce data. The biggest discounts were on appliances, general clothing, makeup and luxury handbags. Online sales during the holidays are up 9% from last year.
“Retailers have finally stepped up to the discount game, and consumers are responding likewise,” said Garf.
Macy’s Herald Square in Manhattan, where discounts included 60% off fashion jewelry and 50% off select shoes, was packed with shoppers early Friday morning.
Traffic was “significantly higher” on Black Friday than in the previous two years because shoppers feel more comfortable in crowds, said Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette.
She said the top sellers from Macy’s online sale, which began last weekend, included 50 percent off beauty sets. Last year, Macy’s, like many other stores, had supply chain issues with some gifts not arriving until Christmas.
“Right now we are all primed and ready to go,” he said.
Sophia Rose, 40, a visiting respiratory specialist in Manhattan from Albany, New York, was heading to Macy’s with big plans to splurge after saving up last year while still in school. She had budgeted for groceries and gas to deal with inflation, but she had already spent $2,000 on holiday gifts and plans to spend a total of $6,000.
“I’ll touch all the floors,” he said. “This is the plan.”
A Best Buy store in Manhattan had stacks of TVs, including 50-inch Samsung TVs, reduced to $297, a savings of $82.
Delmarie Quinones, a 30-year-old home health assistant from the Bronx, was only there to pick up a laptop and printer she’d ordered online for $179, down from $379, as part of a Black Friday sale.
Quiñones said rising food prices and other expenses are making her spend less than a year ago, when she had the money from the government’s children’s tax credit payments.
“I can’t get what I used to have,” said the mother of five, ages 1 to 13. “Even when I went back to school, it was hard to get them the essentials.”
Major retailers, including Walmart and Target, have stuck with their pandemic-era decision to close stores on Thanksgiving, moving away from street vendors and instead offering discounts on their websites.
But people still shop online for Thanksgiving. Garf said online sales surged overnight over the holidays, suggesting people have switched from partying to shopping on the phone. And with holiday travel on the rise, this year she said a larger share of online shopping was done on mobile devices.
“The cell phone has become the remote control of our daily lives, and this has led to an increase in couch purchases as consumers settle down after Thanksgiving dinner,” said Garf.
In the current economic environment, the National Retail Federation, the largest retail group, expects holiday sales growth to slow to a range of 6% to 8%, compared with soaring growth in 13 .5% from a year ago. . However, these figures, which include online spending, are not adjusted for inflation, so actual spending may even be lower than it was a year ago.
Adobe Analytics expects online sales to grow 2.5% from November 1 to December 31, a slowdown from last year’s 8.6% pace when shoppers were reluctant to return to brick-and-mortar stores.
Analysts consider the five-day Black Friday weekend, which includes Cyber Monday, a key barometer of shoppers’ willingness to spend, particularly this year. The two-month period between Thanksgiving and Christmas accounts for about 20% of the retail industry’s annual sales.
