Black Friday is here, and with it, all of the discounts.
Although Black Friday door-busters aren’t what they used to be—with early discounts, online offers, and retailers opening doors as early as Thanksgiving day—it’s still critical to retailers.
This year, retailers are optimistic.
“People are feeling good about the economy, unemployment is low, wages are strong, and that’s translating into greater willingness to spend around events like the holiday season,” said Katherine Cullen of the National Retail Federation.
The National Retail Federation estimates holiday sales will increase between 4.3- 4.8 percent over last year, and could reach more than $720 billion, according to CNN.
With low unemployment and gas prices, there are an estimated 116 million shoppers expected on Black Friday.
How are people shopping? Online, mobile, or in-store. The shoppers will have all the clues, as well as to how much they might spend beyond this weekend.
“We know consumers shop all season long. They like to stretch out their budgets, they like to wait for, you know, the last minute deal or promotion on something they want, so we expect they’ll be shopping all the way up till Christmas Eve,” said Cullen.