With the Thanksgiving turkey overcooked, shoppers were expected to come out in record numbers to buy Black Friday deals. However, due to inclement weather on what is historically the busiest shopping day of the year, small crowds were seen outside the shops.
“Only about 20 people checked in,” said Jimena Silva, a Target employee in Raleigh, North Carolina, who witnessed the heavy rain between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. Friday.
Silva, 23, said she has seen more customers visit the store in previous years, but expects traffic to increase later in the day.
About 166.3 million people plan to shop between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday this year, up nearly 8 million from last year, according to the National Retail Federation.
But due to intermittent rain in some parts of the country, shops were less busy than usual on Black Friday morning.
In New York’s Times Square, which was overcast with light rain, staff waited inside stores for a crowd that had not yet arrived.
At the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, there were no lines outside the stores. A ToysRUS employee was spotted walking around the mall handing out flyers listing Black Friday offenders.
However, those who made it to the mall were surprised by the deals on offer.
“There are many deals that were not advertised. In some stores, I got 50% off everything I bought,” said Christine Chavez, 45, of Monmouth County, New Jersey. She added that she primarily shopped for gifts and chose items from Victoria’s Secret and Torrid.
“I was hesitant to come to the mall, and I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised.”
U.S. shoppers spent nearly 3% more online this year on Thanksgiving Day, a report from Adobe Analytics found, with purchases made from mobile phones driving the increase. Black Friday is expected to bring in $9 billion in online sales, up 1% from last year.
Retailers are offering deep discounts both online and in stores, which could cut into profits in the fourth quarter.
Average online discount rates for Thanksgiving in the U.S. were 29%, up 6% from a year ago, driving sales up 3% to $7.1 billion, according to Salesforce data.
Walmart is ramping up marketing ahead of the holiday, buying ad spots on Twitter and Instagram, during National Football League games and on billboards near New York’s Penn Station in hopes of getting customers to shop early and often ahead of Black Friday.
Rival Amazon ( AMZN.O ) also offered a slew of deals on its marketplace, including up to 42% off Roomba vacuums, 45% off Calvin Klein men’s T-shirts and up to 50% off Chromebooks from Lenovo, HP, Acer and ASUS.
But the online retailer may have more cause for concern as workers at Amazon sites around the world, including in the United States, Germany and France, have been called to strike on Black Friday to demand higher pay.
Americans, especially those from lower-income households, are expected to forgo holiday shopping this year as inflation and higher energy prices reduce their purchasing power.
A survey of nearly 1,700 US consumers by S&P Global Market Intelligence shows that 26% of respondents want to spend less this holiday season, with 66% saying they will spend about the same as last year. Only 7% say they will spend more.
