Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when shoppers can get amazing deals on items like TVs, furniture and clothing. Today, in the world of online shopping, shoppers have skipped the in-store experience of Black Friday and completed their early holiday shopping online. This leads to half-empty stores and shelves, the complete opposite of what Black Friday used to be.
Before e-commerce took the world by storm, Black Friday was a mob scene at malls and big appliance stores nationwide. Customers would wait outside stores for hours and, sometimes, even fight each other to get the last item on a shelf. Shoppers would get amazing deals but had to navigate the humongous crowds.
Overcrowded stores and a fear of other customers caused shoppers to want to take part in Black Friday online. However, with the popularity of online shopping growing every day, Black Friday lacks the excitement and energy it once had.
With more people staying home for Black Friday, there have been fewer accidents, fights and overwhelmed employees reported. According to Worklife, the loss of chaos has shown to improve about two-thirds of employees mental health and happiness.
According to WESH2, a Daytona Beach NBC news station, more Americans shopped from home on Black Friday than they did in stores. After Friday, it was revealed that 122.7 million customers got their deals in stores and 130.2 million participated online. Even though the numbers might look close, it is expected that as the years go on, people are going to completely switch to doing Black Friday online.
With fewer people shopping in stores, there are some negatives. For example, there is not as much money for commission workers if people are shopping online. They are unable to assist customers in stores if there are no customers.
On a more personal note, some people are spending less time bonding with family members. Families and friends took to the stores to not only shop but also spend quality time together on the holiday weekend. Shopping online takes away from the special memories one could make going shopping on Black Friday.
Although the number of in-store shoppers is getting smaller every year, some still like to brave the stores to see the products firsthand. Expecting to see huge crowds, they are instead faced with a half-empty store.
Even though more customers are switching to online shopping on Black Friday, the legacy the day once had lives on. The days of sleeping outside in the cold are replaced with people on their laptops in their living rooms. Instead of families spending more time together, they choose to spend Black Friday indoors.
