Black Friday shopping is likely going to be at its pre-pandemic levels of browsing and buying. In a recent CivicScience survey, 20% of U.S. adults said they would shop on Black Friday this year compared to 15% last year and 21% in 2019.
As previously reported by CivicScience, Black Friday is more a season of sales than exclusively one day of deals. The days of early morning trips to stores before the previous night’s Thanksgiving dinner has been digested is a thing of the past. This year 26% of shoppers say they will do most or all of their Black Friday shopping in a physical store, but more than half of them say they will do it online, and likely over several days.
Black Friday shoppers are predominantly in the Gen Z age group. While dominating in likelihood to shop the sale day, Gen Z Black Friday shoppers over-index in likelihood to do their deal hunting in physical stores. Of the few over-55 shoppers, they will conduct their buying online.
One-third of this year’s holiday shoppers say they will do all or mostly all of their buying at small businesses. Black Friday shoppers, specifically, run against the grain of the average holiday shopper in that they are most likely to prefer big-brand stores for holiday shopping.
Black Friday shoppers are also very likely to have only done a little of their holiday shopping so far this year. Shoppers who haven’t started the process yet are actually the least likely to say they will participate in day-after-Thanksgiving sales.
Considering Black Friday shoppers are leaning toward big-brand stores this year, it’s no surprise that more than half of Black Friday shoppers are favorable to Target and Walmart, although the former slightly more than the latter. But online is really what makes the difference – Black Friday shoppers wildly over-index the Gen Pop in their love of Amazon.com.
Black Friday shoppers overall plan to do a hefty amount of online shopping this year. The catch is the 18- to 24-year-old shoppers who not only much prefer the in-store experience to online, but also make up the largest percentage of Black Friday shoppers in general. One thing is certain, an affinity for Amazon is palpable among all Black Friday shoppers so, regardless of age, that will certainly be one of the top sale destinations this year.
