{"id":4092,"date":"2019-11-21T15:53:59","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T14:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fact-finder.com\/blog\/?p=4092"},"modified":"2020-12-22T09:34:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T08:34:30","slug":"black-friday-2019-insights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/black-friday-2019-insights\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Friday 2019: A Day Late and a Dollar Short?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year will be the shortest holiday\nseason in six years. What will those fewer shopping days mean for retailers and\nconsumers?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Black Friday takes place the day after Thanksgiving, a U.S. holiday that by law falls on the fourth Thursday of the month. The date can vary between the 22nd<\/sup> at the earliest and the 28th<\/sup> at the latest. With Thanksgiving 2019 falling on the 28th<\/sup>, this will be the shortest holiday season possible. Compared to last year, consumers and retailers will lose almost a week of shopping time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, leaving almost $1 billion(( https:\/\/www.adobe.com\/content\/dam\/www\/us\/en\/experience-cloud\/digital-insights\/pdfs\/adobe_analytics-holiday-predictions-2019.pdf?promoid=NV3KR4X2&mv=other)) in revenue behind. Gasp!<\/em> From a business and economic perspective, it’s a little unnerving that we’ve managed to set one of the most important annual retail cycles to a period of time with a variable start date but a fixed end date. In a situation where every day counts, what are retailers to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wouldn\u2019t You Know It<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Retailers are fully aware that this year\u2019s holiday shopping calendar isn\u2019t generous, but shoppers might not be. In fact, only 1 in 3 Americans ((https:\/\/research.retailmenot.com\/holidays2019\/p\/1?utm_source=emarketernative&utm_medium=native&utm_campaign=holiday-2019<\/a>)) are currently aware that there is nearly one week less between Thanksgiving and Christmas \u2013 which is why 44% of retailers will call out the shortened time frame in advertisements(( https:\/\/research.retailmenot.com\/holidays2019\/p\/1?utm_source=emarketernative&utm_medium=native&utm_campaign=holiday-2019<\/a>)). Shoppers will likely not realise there are fewer shopping days this year until it’s too late, but it isn’t really an issue with overall retail spending being higher than ever. Plus, for many people this year, Black Friday coincides with payday which could see record sales for retailers as a result \u2013 earnings from the day are expected to reach \u00a32.53 billion in the UK, 3.4% more than last year, with each shopper intending to spend \u00a3224 on average((https:\/\/www.pwc.co.uk\/industries\/retail-consumer\/insights\/black-friday-cyber-monday.html#sec2<\/a>)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the Early Bird Really Catch the Worm?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Timing is crucial for retailers during the shortened season which explains why nearly half have supersized not only pre-Thanksgiving marketing initiatives but also sales to encourage earlier shopping. Even though Black Friday runs on the 29th<\/sup>, many retailers have gotten a head start. Online giant Amazon will kick-off their Black Friday sales as early as the 22nd<\/sup>, running a full eight days. If that wasn\u2019t enough, they are also running a Black Friday Countdown Sale from the 18th<\/sup> through the 31st<\/sup> \u2013 that\u2019s two whole weeks of deals, deals, deals. Big-box store Walmart will launch Black Friday online sales on the 27th<\/sup> and in-store on the 28th<\/sup> \u2013 yes, on Thanksgiving Day. Combatting this type of competition means smaller retailers are forced to approach the holiday season differently. 54% will begin running deals earlier this year and 55% will offer deeper discounts than they normally do((https:\/\/research.retailmenot.com\/holidays2019\/p\/1?utm_source=emarketernative&utm_medium=native&utm_campaign=holiday-2019)).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n