After a day of feasting with family and friends, shoppers around the country replace their turkey basters with Kohl’s cash in preparation for the annual retail holiday: Black Friday. Marked by overcrowded stores and long lines, Black Friday notoriously holds unbeatable deals. However, with recent changes in consumer behavior, this nostalgic, overcrowded shopping experience has slowly begun to fizzle down, alongside the frenzy once associated with this renowned day.
Following the Covid-19 pandemic, Americans undoubtedly took a step back from the face-to-face interactions they were restricted from throughout the quarantine. The problem there, however, is that consumers are yet to rebound from digital communication, paving the way for the rise in online shopping.
Following the same path as consumers, stores have yet to bounce back from the habitual COVID-19 precautions established years ago.
“Many retailers have decreased their hours and the weight of their deals,” special education teacher and avid shopper Mrs. Rose Touma said. “Cyber Monday totally killed the Black Friday craze.”
According to blackfriday.com, in 2020, online holiday shopping brought in $14.3 billion in sales. Since then, Cyber Monday sales have hovered around $3 billion above Black Friday sales, with $12.4 billion spent on Cyber Monday and $9.8 billion on Black Friday, respectively.
As entailed through the sizable revenue generated each holiday season, this time of year brings an adequate amount of chaos. Cyber Monday does offer a level of convenience that in-person shopping lacks. However, Black Friday offers a frenzy unlike anything digital-based, turning a day spent searching for the best deals into a full shopping experience.
Many devoted shoppers look at this shopping experience as an unforgettable one.
“My mom and I would leave the house at 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving night, head to Macy’s at the Lehigh Valley Mall, and wait in line for their midnight opening. We would shop for all our holiday gifts, have 5 a.m. breakfast at City View Diner, sleep a few hours, and head back out again,” Mrs. Touma said. “It was my favorite day of the year, and now it’s lost its sparkle.”
These Black Friday experiences are quickly becoming a nostalgic memory of the past, one that younger generations will never be exposed to.
“It isn’t the Black Friday that we used to see videos about and stuff,” junior Patrick D’Amico said. “Our generation will never experience those long lines at Best Buy or those fights breaking out at Walmart over a television or iPad.”
Not only do consumers miss out on the Black Friday craze, but retailers are also suffering.
“I have always had this image of what Black Friday shopping looked like, but the reality doesn’t play out,” senior and Lucky Brand Jeans employee Paige Bernhard said. “Many of our customers tend to try clothing on in-store but proceed to go home and order their purchases online. I don’t get it.”
Retailers like Lucky Brand Jeans and many others are lucky enough to have strong presences in both in-person stores and online. However, many brick-and-mortar stores rely on this holiday foot traffic to keep them in profit.
Nonetheless, as Cyber Monday takes the stage, dedicated in-person shoppers begin to bid farewell to the adrenaline-inducing early mornings and bustling crowds. Online shopping has transformed the landscape of consumerism, but the thrill still remains for many.
“Although it’s completely different because most shoppers choose to stay home and make transactions from their beds,” Mrs. Touma said. “I will still be out there. You can’t kill my traditions.”
