Bankrate.com, an organization that tracks spending habits among Americans, did a survey of 1,000 adults and found that only 28 percent had plans to rise early and hit the stores on Black Friday. The figure rises to 40 percent if you count the online shoppers.
Many retailers are simply swapping Thanksgiving Day for the day after, getting a jump on the Black Friday event. Major discounts are being offered before the turkey cools. Among those retailers planning to make the early dive into the shopping frenzy are Walmart, Target, Amazon and Toys R Us.
The early sales are a bonus for shoppers who like to avoid the dense crowds that have characterized Black Friday. They are making their plans to avoid the super-shopping day, rather than being in the midst of it. The over-stuffed stores of the past have helped push the move to spread the bargain days over a longer period, the experts say.
Of course, there are those who thrive on the push-and-pull of big crowds and count it as a part of the holiday fun. They’ll be there for Black Friday early and stay late, the survey said.
Cyber Monday, the electronics equivalent of Black Friday, will attract even fewer shoppers, the Bankrate.com poll indicated, with only one four folks looking for techie bargains expecting to hit the specialty stores. And they said they will spend less than in the past, an average of $361, compared with $399 last time around.
The Consumer Electronics Association estimates that some 6 million more shoppers will join the online shopping than last year, when some 103 million shopped online. The record number is expected to keep the ordering hot throughout the Thanksgiving weekend. Three quarters of them are expected to use a mobile device to do their shopping, the association says.
The hot-ticket tech items for the year include TVs, laptops, tablet, iPads, Xbox One, Playstation 4 and Call of Duty.
So rev up your engines, put the turkey on hold for just a short time and join the 2014 version of shop-‘til-you-drop.