Black Friday saw empty stores and fewer buyers, signaling the death of the manna of purchase as we know it

Business Insider / Jessica Tyler In Westchester, NY, Target was incredibly empty on Black Friday

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• The drop in the number of shop visitors reveals the rise in online shopping and highlights the fact that Black Friday sales are starting sooner than ever before.
• Black Friday photos from across the country reveal empty shops, solo buyers and parking lots that were far from being filled.

If your local mall felt a bit empty on Black Friday, you could not imagine things.

Pedestrian traffic fell 1.7% from black Friday, according to brand retailer ShopperTrak. Combined visits for Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday decreased by 1%.

Although a 1.7% drop is not a huge drop, it reveals two things.

First, with the global business figure on the rise, internet users are buying more online. Online sales reached $ 6.22 billion at Black Friday, up 23.6% from 2017, according to data from Adobe Analytics.

More: Stores like Walmart, Lowe's and J.Crew have a new nightmare for Black Friday – and this marks a fundamental shift in the way we shop

Meanwhile, the decline in the number of shoppers on Black Friday continues to decline slightly, but steadily, when it was once known for its restless (and sometimes violent) crowd. crazy bargain buyers. According to RetailNext, the number of people going to the shops on Black Friday dropped by 4.5% last year.

"In the end, consumers really want convenience and want to buy their item and get out of the store quickly." They do not want Josh Elman, senior specialist at Nasdaq Advisory Services, told Business Insider last October. 19659008] Secondly, Thanksgiving Day traffic dropped less than Black Friday's pedestrian traffic makes people shop earlier

"The first online promotions and Thanksgiving Day store openings have probably cannibalized Black Friday buyers' visits, "said Morgan Stanley badyst Kimberly C. Greenberger, in a note published on Monday

. Thanksgiving Day. However, the Thanksgiving Thanksgiving Day Coupon Many Retailers could have contributed to a decrease in Black Friday pedestrian traffic, especially since most online Black Friday online sales also Thursday

The decline in pedestrian traffic, although slight, has been clear for many buyers in stores across the country.

Here are pictures that prove that Black Friday was not what it was: