For those who took a nap after the turkey dinner yesterday and missed out on the early Black Friday sales that started at some stores on Thursday night, the world is not lost yet. Black Friday is THE shopping day of the year when retailers start giving out eye-popping discounts for the season. It has in American popular culture replaced the proverbial Saturday before Christmas. Shoppers have started flocking to the stores at the crack of dawn for the deep discounts and luring offers. On the other side of the coin, retailers look to make the most of the day to achieve their holiday season sales target.
And they have some very good reasons to cheer. A rebounding economy, falling unemployment rate, higher consumer confidence and improving consumer spending all point to solid sales this year. In hindsight, last year was crippled by the 16-day government shutdown and political impasse. A soft job scene also took out most of the joy from the season.
Data compiled by the nation's largest retail trade group, National Retail Federation (NRF), suggests a 4.1% jump in holiday sales (November and December) to $616.9 billion against 3.1% growth registered last year. This is even better than the 10-year average sales increment of 2.9%. Online sales for this holiday season are also projected to increase 8–11% to approximately $105 billion, according to Shop.org.
Retailers are on their toes, be it with early-hour store openings, promotional events, free shipping on online purchases or heavy discounts. And shoppers are only too eager to fall for the bait eyeing the large discounts that would save money on their Christmas shopping.
While GameStop Corp. (GME – Analyst Report) opened at 12.01 a.m. to woo the early birds, The Home Depot, Inc. (HD –Analyst Report) and Lowe's Companies Inc. (LOW – Analyst Report) opened at 5 a.m. today. On the other hand, Staples, Inc. (SPLS – Analyst Report) and Big Lots Inc. (BIG – Analyst Report) opened shutters at 6 a.m., while PetSmart, Inc. (PETM –Snapshot Report) at 7 a.m. There are retailers who are starting the day a bit late. Best Buy Co., Inc. (BBY – Analyst Report) and Office Depot, Inc. (ODP – Analyst Report) are opening at 8 a.m., while Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST – Analyst Report) at 9 a.m.
