The chaos of Black Friday seems in decline as online shopping progresses

More and more Thanksgiving and Black Friday consumers are staying at home to shop online rather than doing it as if they were in stores, as they did before, as shown by the controls of the circulation of retailers made by KeyBanc Capital Markets.

Promotional discounts abound, the latest Numerator data show that discounts in many major categories of stores including computers, outerwear for the family and entertainment are higher than the Black Friday 2018 compared to 2017.

However, many discounts are available online, eliminating the need to brave the cold and the crowd.

"The initial store traffic was in line with our expectations. this seems more moderate from one year to the next because of a continuous change online, "wrote KeyBanc analysts headed by Ed Yruma in a note on Friday. "Retailers have been very aggressive with online promotions."

Lily: At what time do shops open on Black Friday

Walmart Inc.

WMT, + 0.99%

and Target Corp.

TGT -2.76%

According to KeyBanc, many of their "best promotions" have been put online, and Target also offers free delivery with no minimum purchase. And Amazon.com Inc.

AMZN, -0.97%

focuses on the electronics, especially its own devices.

Other store closures at Thanksgiving could also generate online traffic.

"Consumers kicked off holiday shopping on Thanksgiving Day, window shopping from their couches," said Rob Garf, vice president of strategy and industry ideas at Salesforce. .com Inc.

CRM -1.26%

, in a report. "With the growing number of retailers closed at Thanksgiving, buyers have turned to digital."

REI, the leisure equipment retailer, has been heavily promoted by its Opt Outside campaign, which encourages people to switch from Black Friday to shopping.

Online sales, especially those of smartphones, jumped this year, up 28% from last year, to $ 3.7 billion in thanksgiving, according to Adobe Analytics

ADBE -0.19%

. At 10 am Eastern Standard Time on Black Friday, online spending rose 27.8% to $ 643 million.

See: Online retail sales on Thanksgiving Day are up 28% from last year

Improved mobile websites have made smartphone visits shorter, said Adobe. And "phones are eliminating the pain of holiday shopping," according to Salesforce.

AT. Kearney's data shows that long lines are the main complaint of 84% of customers surveyed in its 2018 Holiday Shopping Survey.

David Portalatin, food industry analyst at NPD Group, released a photo Friday showing empty parking in Texas.

Matt Powell, senior advisor to the organization for sport, said the longest lines were at Starbucks Corp.

SBUX, -1.60%

Nevertheless, Juli Lennett and Stephen Baker of the NDP said that Best Buy Co. Inc.

BBY, + 0.74%

and Macy's Inc.

M -1.78%

attracted buyers.

A study conducted on the properties of the coast is managed by JLL Retail revealed that 59.1% of respondents said the initial traffic was moderate to high compared to last year, 45.5% of 39, between them declaring that the traffic was identical to Black Friday 2017. was moderate to strong compared to 2017, with over 85% of them claiming that the traffic is the same.

"Online sales account for a larger share of sales this year than last year, with expenses increasing by 33 percent," said Neil Saunders, chief executive of GlobalData Retail, in a report on Black Friday. "The stores will also grow, but at a more moderate level of 1.9%. However, both rates of increase are the highest for at least five years. "

The SPDR S & P Retail ETF

XRT + 0.29%

is down 0.3% since the beginning of the year, while the Amplify Online Retail ETF

J & # 39; BUY, + 0.88%

gained 4.5% for the period. The S & P 500 index

SPX, -0.66%

decreased by 1.2% in 2018 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average

DJIA, -0.73%

slipped 1.4% for the period.