Bye Bye Black Friday: Companies start changing Black Friday sales events

Black Friday sales will be primarily online this year due to COVID-19 concerns, and many companies have extended their sales to a full week or a full month because of crowding concerns and overall safety precautions, such as Nordstrom, Target, Urban Outfitters, Walmart, Kohl’s and Best Buy have chosen this new approach.

The Black Friday website — blackfriday.com — displays a number of popular Black Friday retail stores including Kohl’s, Target and Walmart, that have been discussing plans for in-person shoppers. The website states that 25 stores have recently decided to remain closed on Thanksgiving to limit the crowds, store hours have been shortened and many companies are moving to online shopping platforms.

Kohl’s has decided to extend their sales days to a confidential number, according to local store manager, Ashley Downing. She believes spreading out the sales will reduce crowing and hopefully make shopping a more positive experience.

Downing recognizes the loss of revenue over the past couple of months, hopeful that Black Friday will bump their projections up and give a boost to the declining company in the midst of a pandemic.

“We’re still down 50% percent to last year, it’s still billions of dollars. So there’s no way to sugarcoat that and make it better. But online business is helping to subsidize that loss. Up until recently, we haven’t even been close to doing what we did last year,” Downing said. “But as of October, we are starting to match what we did last year. I think that their hope is not that we’ll make up the billions of dollars that we’re down as a company, but that we will continue to grow for this season.”

Even with the precautions, Kohl’s — along will several other stores — is still on the fence about how in-person Black Friday shoppers will be handled in a safe way. There’s still questions about how many people will come to the store and how the sales will be distributed.

“It really is, as far as we’re concerned, a guessing game of what it will look like. Probably anywhere between 25 and 40% of the projected sales that we’ll do will be a more ‘buy online, pick up in store,’” Downing said. “But that still leaves me with over $100,000 in my tiny little store that we’ll do in actual sales between 5am and midnight, which means we’ll be very, very packed. So I think we’re all just going to be in kind of a learning zone.”

In a company call released to Fox News, Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette decided to implement curbside pickups, transition to online shopping and execute other undisclosed options because he believes the crowds are a risk during the pandemic and companies will be blamed if outbreaks occur.

Kohl’s has also started curbside pickup and has invested more time and energy into the online sites, which has proved to be profitable to a certain extent.

“I think, you know, at this point, all stores are over 100% up to last year,” Downing said. “So we’re doing double what we did last year already in all of our online businesses, and we expect that that will even grow further than double than what we did last year.”

According to Downing, the changes to Black Friday have both positive and negative effects. Kohl’s will be closed on Thanksgiving day, which is the day they normally bring in the most revenue. They predict revenue will fall, but Downing says the staff is working hard to make up for it. However, the changes will bring positive impacts such as extended sales and safer conditions.

Several stores and shops in Missouri are limited to a certain number of customers in stores for the annual sales. CNN predicts that online shoppers will make up over 40% of Black Friday customers.

Senior Katheryn Nachtigal, a self-proclaimed online shopper addict, feels the shift to online shopping for Black Friday is a good idea.

“I think that I’ll definitely try to stick to online shopping during the Black Friday sales just because I have a longer period of time,” Nachtigal said. “I think that’ll help me a lot instead of just having a day of a week, I would definitely take more advantage of that.”

For Nachtigal, the new ways — like the week-long extent and shift to online shopping — that have changed this year are more realistic for the holiday, and would be smart to keep for future years.

“I think that [keeping the new shopping model] would probably be the smarter decision just because it does give people a better chance to try and buy all these things,” Nachtigal said. “And by then I’m sure it helps companies make a little bit more money. I think it just makes it more convenient for everyone.”

Junior Isabella Marquez agrees with Nachtigal and thinks that online shopping is the safer option this year. She also understands the appeal of online shopping because of its accessibility.

“I feel like just because online shopping has become so popular recently, you don’t have to leave your house, you can just access it from anywhere,” Marquez said. “I think that’s pretty respectable honestly just with everything going on, everyone’s just trying to stay safe.”

Marquez feels that the decision to extend sales and added online shopping for Black Friday has been taken well by the general public. To Marquez, the Black Friday modifications are examples of the new age of the new age of online shopping that has been caused by the pandemic.

“I honestly think it will because it’s becoming so much more popular recently.” Marquez said. “And it’s just so much easier to access from your house, so you can do it even from your bed. I think it definitely would be more popular in the years to come.”