’Tis the season for never-ending Black Friday shopping

Gone are the days where hundreds of American consumers would line up at a local Target on Black Friday, ready to fight to the death over the last 50% off Smart TV. Instead, 69% of consumers are planning to shop online this year, a 42% increase from last year.

Will in-person Black Friday shopping become obsolete? Upon further investigation, one would find that we’re heading into an era dominated by e-commerce, yet some Black Friday traditionalists still cling to early mornings and crowd chaos.

The term ‘Cyber Monday’ was created in 2005, following the internet’s early 2000’s peak, but the lines between Cyber Monday and Black Friday have become increasingly blurred, as most consumers prefer to do their shopping entirely online. By demographics, Millennials, Gen Y, and Gen Z are leading the online shopping craze by 86%.

This shift in dynamics may very well be because of these generations’ tech savviness, and the fact that technology has improved immensely since 2005, but especially because of the last two years, where we experienced a pandemic and supply chain issues, that lent a big hand in this change. In 2020, retailers were forced to change their Black Friday strategies to be online, while in 2021, out of concern for out-of-stock items, consumers began their Black Friday shopping well before Thanksgiving.

As a result, this year you get big retailers like Target starting weeklong Black Friday deals as early as October 10th, with deals available both in store and online, while select offers are “exclusively online.” Likewise, Walmart launched its “Rollbacks and More” event back in October, and just announced its third event today, November 21, beginning entirely online until November 25 for in store shopping.

Despite these online oriented deals, of the 32% of consumers who plan on shopping in person on Black Friday, Walmart and Target are their top destinations at 62% and 58% respectively. However, very few consumers are willing to make the “traditional”’ early morning treks for doorbuster deals, from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Friday morning, standing at only 15%.

Back in 2019, 44% of consumers planned on shopping in-person, and for the 84.2 million shoppers that did visit stores on Black Friday, these traditionalists expressed that it wasn’t the same as it was in the past, with smaller crowds and even less of a buzz at top destinations. That’s a good thing, though, right? The chaos that defined American consumerism was part of the appeal for traditional Black Friday shoppers, some of whom would only come “for the accidents.”

Even before the pandemic wreaked havoc on in-person shopping, the Black Friday as we have traditionally known it, was already on a decline. Now, as the experience has largely been replaced with online shopping, with the most dramatic inconvenience being slow internet speeds, the excitement of Black Friday seems to be lost altogether.

Black Friday has already transformed before our eyes, especially as retailers continue to tailor their marketing approach to adjust for the ever-increasing crowd of digitally savvy consumers, and those who prefer convenience over experience. Therefore, maybe it’s time for the consumers to completely reimagine Black Friday, not so much as a single event, but as an entire season of shopping, because big brands have already adjusted to it as such. Perhaps, this is simply another evolution of American consumerism, for better or for worse.