TEXAS CITY, Texas — With shopping trends shifting more towards online options and inflation tampering with consumer confidence, Black Friday and the holiday shopping season are being closely monitored to see how shoppers feel about spending their money as the end of the year approaches.
The National Retail Federation projects Americans will spend up to $966 billion during the holiday shopping season, an expected increase of about 3% to 4% compared to 2022. But that is partly due to inflation driving up prices.
At the Tanger Outlets in Texas City, shoppers arrived before the sun rose on Black Friday to take advantage of deals offered by brick-and-mortar retailers in hopes sales offset inflation.
“I feel like everything we buy on Black Friday is justified, because the deals are just so good,” Makayla Laprad of Friendswood told KHOU 11 while shopping at the outlets.
Another trend traditional retailers are grappling with is online and mobile shopping.
According to Adobe Analytics, 2023 is projected to be the first year where mobile devices will account for a majority of online shopping during the holiday season, about 51%, surpassing desktop online shopping.
But shoppers at Tanger Outlets are enthusiastic about the tradition of in-person Black Friday shopping.
“We’re trying to keep the spirit of Black Friday alive and get some great deals,” Katie Ghoul of Clear Lake said.
Ghoul arrived at Tanger Outlets with friends and family and said Black Friday shopping is a tradition for her family.
“Online is OK but it’s fun being in the store with people and kind of just mingle around,” Dana Ghoul said.
Retailers are adapting to changing consumer behavior with different strategies. Among them, extending traditional Black Friday sales before and after the main date.
“Our retailers have started offering these deals a little before Black Friday,” Casey Squires, the marketing director for Tanger Houston told KHOU 11. “And then, of course, you can kind of continue to save here up to 70% throughout the entire weekend, so it's really exciting.”
The next boost for retailers is likely to come in the days following Black Friday.
According to analysts at Bankrate.com, 66% of shoppers say they are likely to buy something on Cyber Monday and 61% on Small Business Saturday ahead of Black Friday at 56%.