With U.S. inventories tight, 'Black Friday' drags through November
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[November 23, 2021] By
Richa Naidu and Arriana McLymore
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Facing scarce year-end
inventories and a shortage of workers, retailers are turning "Black
Friday" into a month-long event.
Walmart, the world's largest retailer, said on Monday it had already
started "Black Friday" discounts , such as $30 off AirPods and KidKraft
dollhouses. Walmart, whose stores will be closed on Thanksgiving for the
second year in a row, said it would only offer the same discounts in
stores on Friday.
Rival big-box retailer Target on Sunday began running its own Black
Friday sales, such as up to 30% off Samsung and TCL flat screen
televisions, and 50% off headphones. Target said on Monday that from now
on, it will keep all its roughly 1,900 stores closed on Thanksgiving.
The Thanksgiving weekend previously kicked off the U.S. holiday shopping
season with "doorbuster" discounts that had consumers lining up for
blocks outside brick-and-mortar stores across the country on Black
Friday, the day following Thanksgiving. In recent years, shopping at
stores on Black Friday has faded, with online sales on the day outpacing
brick-and-mortar sales for the first time in 2019.
This year, retailers started promoting online holiday "deals" as early
as September , because the ongoing supply chain logjam threatened to
block them from bringing new merchandise from Asia into the United
States in the weeks before the Christmas holiday. But the bargains are
modest. Retailers are expected to dangle price cuts of 5%-to-25% this
Friday, only slightly deeper than the 5%-to-10%-off discounts they
offered in October, according to Adobe Digital Economy Index.
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Retailers have increasingly reduced Black Friday store hours as shoppers
turn to online shopping. "Are discounts going to be as prevalent and as
deep as they normally have been in the last few years?” asked Marshal
Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group. “No, not if the demand for
product is high and the supply is low – there’s no reason to promote
discounts.”
"Stores are trying to berate the public into thinking ‘get it now or it
might be gone," said 70-year-old artist Maggie Smith from Tucson,
Arizona.
According to a Reuters/IPSOS poll of about 1,000 people, more than a
fifth of shoppers said they planned to primarily buy gifts online this
year, while only 12% said they would shop primarily in stores. Online
sales on Black Friday itself are expected to increase by 5% to $9.5
billion, according to the Adobe Digital Economy Index.
Walmart and Target both said they would invest more in same-day options,
including the ability for shoppers to pick up merchandise ordered
online.
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![](../images/112321pics/busine60.jpg)
pecial discount on Black Friday sales is offered at a fashion store,
as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in
Zurich, Switzerland November 27, 2020. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File
Photo
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But fulfilling quick-turn online orders could put pressure on retailers' labor
forces at a time when warehouse workers are in short supply.
"We're seeing double-time for those shifts and increases in the pay, but then
that's going to be painful," said Andy Halliwell, senior director of retail at
consultancy Publicis Sapient. "That's going to come out of the retailers'
margins."
JC Penney, which is owned by Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset
Management, wants to hire 3,000 supply-chain workers in distribution centers in
addition to 25,000 seasonal associates. The retailer is offering $2,000
retention bonuses for select supply chain associates in certain locations.
Macy’s , which plans to hire 71,000 seasonal workers, said that nearly one-third
of those employees will work in fulfillment centers across the country, and
Kohl’s in July said it would give maximum bonuses of $400 to hourly store and
supply chain associates who stuck around for the holiday season.
To be sure, some retailers said they are preparing for brick-and-mortar stores
to make a comeback, and said they have enough inventory.
"We’re seeing our customers return to in-store shopping," William White,
Walmart's chief marketing officer in the United States, told Reuters. White also
said Walmart has expanded its toy assortment by "more than double."
For Marc Ivan, a 23-year-old student in Philadelphia, going to stores isn't a
tradition he plans to give up, even though he said he will do most of his
shopping online as early as possible this week.
"I'll still go out on Black Friday, just to do some casual shopping and hang out
with friends."
(Reporting by Richa Naidu and Arriana Mclymore; Editing by Vanessa O'Connell and
Nick Zieminski)
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