Black Friday’s Moved Online, But Some Retailers Face Extinction Without Foot Traffic
Bankrupt Stores Are In Hot Water. Some Major Retailers Are Closing Their Doors This Holiday …And No A Vaccine Won’t Save Them!
Walmart, Target, and Best Buy are retreating from a looming ‘pandemic Friday’ — but before I get into that, let me just say I’ve never been a big fan of Black Friday; this article will be just a teensy bit biased.
Why do I dislike Black Friday? For one, It’s a sustainability disaster, It puts major financial stress on low-income families, and finally, It’s chaotic and often disappointing.
But it’s also one of retail’s highest-earning fiscal quarters. Some retailers rely on the kick-off to the holiday season to see a profit and stop operating at a loss.
[The fiscal quarters are also known as Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. Black Friday falls within Q4.]
So what about Black Friday 2020, are businesses going to recoup their losses from this past year?
Retreat! Retreat! Oh, Nevermind I’m Still Rich —
Well — Walmart, Best Buy, and Target won’t even be trying. All three major retailers have given their employees this unusual Thanksgiving off, and to perhaps avoid being the next epicenter.
Going off of Wall Street, Target doesn’t even need Black Friday. The Pandemic has been great for the company!
Surprise surprise, but hey, we had to buy panic toilet paper somewhere —
Apparently, curbside pickup services for Target were up 700% at the end of Q2 and the beginning of Q3.
So no, the retailer does not need a crowd of pushing-and-shoving coughers (not shoppers) on its doorstep this November. But we all know the market can make big swings in a relatively short amount of time. Even Target is still leery of the pandemics grip on our economy.
You can also mark off Kohl’s and Dick’s Sporting Goods from your in-person shopping list (if you had one.) The two retailers will follow Walmarts lead and be shutting down this Thanksgiving.
I’m sure even more will follow.
Kohl’s CEO made the holiday closing official back in August, saying this will be “a holiday season like no other,” — it most definitely is, because some retailers really need this Black Friday and Q4 in general.
Some retailers, like Macy’s and J. C. Penney’s, rely on Q4 for almost half, if not more of their revenue. Sales have been continually declining for department stores in recent years and without this holiday season, 2021 is looking grim already.
What’s worse is a lot of companies filled bankruptcy back in May of this year, J. C. Penney’s included.
In May everyone was still in denial that things weren’t going back to normal, they weren’t thinking about dying department stores.
To update you on J. C. Penney’s — it’s not going to be pretty. They can’t find a high enough bid to cover their massive 2.2billion in debt.
A lot of jobs are on the line. Let’s hope for all those employed there’s a better fate at the end of this year.
So is Black Friday really canceled?
Of course not. Well, I mean it is in the traditional sense. Our stampede days are probably long gone.
But online deals have already begun and others are right around the corner.
Prime Day will start on October 5th this holiday season, just in case you need to plan out your online shopping.
Clothing sales, on the other hand, have been raging since summer. Retailers are desperately trying to clear out their piled-up Spring stock and avoid bankruptcy.
But, never fear it’s not all doomsday: there will be some fun additions to Black Friday this year, like parking lot pop-ups!
What would that look like exactly?
Will it be similar to drive-up testing centers? Or tents full of merchandise clustered by crazed mobs with get-away cars?
It’ll probably be more like my local farmers market; that’s littered with signs saying “please line up 6 feet apart, against the wall.”
The signs stay up throughout the week and are honestly quite off-putting.
A Vaccine To Save Black Friday?
But what if the vaccine comes by the end of October?
The New York Times says, “Mistrust of a Coronavirus Vaccine Could Imperil Widespread Immunity.” Which basically means, a readily available vaccine is only the first hurdle we’ll need to jump over.
But even if all Americans agreed to take the vaccine, the virus won’t go away overnight. Medical experts are saying it could take months to (and I hate to even type it out) years for society to return to a quote-on-quote normal.
But hey, it’s not the end of the world, as long as there’s an internet connection we’ll have access to Black Friday sales.
But in the planet’s best interest, it probably wouldn’t hurt to sit this one out. However, if you're partial to any department stores, you might want to shop, shop, shop if you want to keep them alive.
