Coronavirus fears, online deals reduce US Black Friday crowds

New York:

Masked shoppers showed up in smaller numbers at major U.S. retailers including Macy’s Inc, Walmart Inc and Best Buy Co Inc on Black Friday as the first online deals and worried about the rise in COVID cases- 19 dulled the enthusiasm for trips to the mall.

Retailers have revised the traditionally busy shopping day that comes the day after Thanksgiving. Walmart opened its stores at 5 a.m. on Friday, ordering shoppers to turn right on entering and follow the main aisles to buy deals before paying at ledgers surrounded by plastic barriers.

Best Buy opened at 5 a.m., employing workers in must-have orange vests to serve as traffic cops. Others offered temperature checks and takeout merchandise including toys, bikes and kitchen appliances to discourage linger in store aisles.

Bill Park, a partner of Deloitte & Touche LP, estimates that traffic at the King of Prussia shopping center outside of Philadelphia has declined by about 20-30% from last year.

“I’m surprised at the traffic. It’s a bit lower but heavier than I expected,” he said, but noted buyers weren’t loaded with packages.

Elsewhere, shoppers with empty baskets lined up six feet apart before the Walmart opened in LaGrange, Ky., But the crowds appeared to be declining overall. Stores selling popular computer game consoles had some of the longest lines as gamers tried to snag Sony Corp’s PlayStation 5.

Brother-in-law Gabriel Rojas, 24, and Juan Cabrera, 24, had been lining up at GameStop in New York’s Bronx neighborhood since 2 a.m. on Friday in hopes of grabbing a PS5 . They failed because there were about 20 people in front of them and the retailer only had two left in stock, they said.

“We are disappointed,” Rojas said. “But it is okay.”

Some were luckier.

Roger Mustafa, 37, walked out of a Manhattan GameStop with a PS5 in a plastic bag and a huge smile on his face. It cost him $ 544 and a lot of sleep.

“I’ve been waiting outside GameStop for two days,” said Bronx resident Mustafa. “Now I’m going to go home and get some sleep.”

At Macy’s flagship store in New York City, Asuncion Peralta, 77, said she was not afraid to shop because she had COVID-19 antibodies.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time to buy towels and sheets, whatever I need,” Peralta said. “These prices are not Black Friday prices. I came here two days ago and the deals were better.”

ONLINE OFFERS

In this pandemic year, retailers from Target Corp to Kohl’s Corp and Walmart rolled out online winter vacation promotions in October to capture all vacation spending as early as possible.

Upscale department store operator Nordstrom, which saw sales plummet during the pandemic, offered customers a $ 15 gift card if they picked up curbside packages from their stores.

Overall, the National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts US vacation retail sales to grow 3.6% to 5.2% from 2019, to a total of $ 755.3 billion to $ 766.7 billion. This compares to an average annual increase of 2.5% over the past five years.

On November 19, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) deemed “shopping in crowded stores just before, during or after Thanksgiving” to be a high-risk activity.

Target employee Seth Schaffer, 22, of Lufkin, Texas, said shoppers at his store seemed less concerned about taking precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“Deep Texas isn’t the kind of place where you will see everyone obeying mask policies or avoiding close contact.”

Adobe Analytics expects Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday 2020 to continue to be the two biggest online selling days in history, with Black Friday online sales between 8.9 and 10, $ 6 billion.

Melissa Bloss, who works at a bank in Rapid City, South Dakota, said she plans to do all of her shopping online this year.

“Most businesses have made sales throughout the month. I really don’t have to hurry when I can get the same deal a week later,” she said.

(Except for the title, this story was not edited by NDTV staff and is posted from a syndicated feed.)