Reuters Insider - Thinner U.S. crowds but Black Friday goes global

Great American Financial

02/12/2019 06:45

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Source: Reuters Insider

Description: The frenzy associated with in-store Black Friday shopping was
missing in the U.S. this year as more consumers shopped online, but
discounting to lure shoppers that began in America has now spread to Europe
and Africa. Conway G. Gittens reports.
Short Link: https://tmsnrt.rs/2rDM9H8

Video Transcript:

Shopping is the great American pastime and no single day is as important as
Black Friday. At this Best Buy in Midtown, New York City, Alberto Canales
found just what he was looking for.

I found actually a really god deal for the Apple Airpods. It’s amazing.
They got to discount it so it really helped me out, especially going to get
for my girlfriend. I usually shop online, but I just happened to walk by and
suddenly I might as well get this now as opposed to waiting until it’s
sold out.

In-store traffic is far from the frenzied pace seen in years past. Many
shoppers are doing more of their holiday shopping online. Black Friday along
is expected to rake in roughly $7.5 billion in online sales, according to data
from Adobe Analytics. That’s a more than 20% jump from a year ago. And VP
of Commerce Jason Woosly says some of that is spilling over into in-store
purchases.

We’re still seeing a lot of buy online pick-up in-store activity where
some would make the purchase on their computer, come into the store to pick it
up. And the great thing there is about 82% of customers who do that also
purchase something else when they come into the store.

But still, many are willing to go out on Black Friday, and it’s no longer
just an American phenomenon.

As you can see, I can be here in the middle of the night just to come and buy
this microwave. So yeah, it’s a special day for me.

In South Africa, the hunt for a good bargain is catching on with a mob forming
outside this Nike store in Johannesburg. And in Germany, this woman is
surprised by the crowd at an electronics retailer.

It’s the very first time I am taking part in this. I am completely
shocked by what is going on here.

But not everyone is pleased with the American style consumerism spreading to
other parts of the world. In Spain, protesters organized by Greenpeace
demonstrated against what they see as the environmental threat from a rising
global shopping. And across France, a protest dubbed “Black Friday”
prevented shoppers from getting into a shopping center, and others took aim
specifically at Amazon. There were protests outside the online retailer’s
headquarters and a seat-in at an Amazon logistics center, blaming the company
for harming the environment through rampant consumerism, the kind that judging
from the thinned out crowds of the US is moving online