More than 70% of respondents said they plan to celebrate Black Friday like their forefathers and spend money in brick-and-mortar shops this year, according to a new survey from Deloitte LP. While some shoppers will be spending their money online, Deloitte found that only 47% of U.S. consumers plan to buy online on Black Friday, down from 55% last year.
While CyberMonday and online shopping are still a big deal, turns out that people aren’t quite willing to give up their annual day-after-Thanksgiving trip to the mall with the entire family. Black Friday is enough of a social activity that Americans still like to do it in person (can’t brawl in the aisles of Walmart.com after all).
While this all sounds like good news for brick-and-mortar retailers, there is a gray cloud hanging around this silver lining. Deloitte found that 65% of Black Friday shoppers planned to buy smaller items, like clothing and accessories, at actual stores–saving the big-ticket items for the internet. Plus, nearly 4 out of 10 (38%) shoppers expected to buy something online while standing inside a brick-and-mortar shop due to better pricing or price matching. While shoppers may put a trip to the department store in the calendar on Black Friday, they still plan to spend 52% of their budgets online over the course of the holiday weekend, Deloitte found. Plus, there’s no guarantee that what shoppers they will do in an online survey will actually come to pass. If the weather turns bad or the turkey coma kicks in, people may find themselves shopping online instead of circling the parking lot at the department store.
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