But there was little sign of the buying fever of years past, after many retailers started Black Friday sales early, turning Thursday’s Thanksgiving Day holiday into what the industry has dubbed “Gray Thursday”.
“Gray Thursday is cannibalising from Black Friday,” Chris Christopher, director of consumer economics at IHS Global Insight, said in a phone interview. Christopher said that anecdotally he had heard that stores action was “relatively thin.” Many customers have already taken advantage of heavy discounts in early November to get their shopping out of the way, he said.
And, according to the research firm’s data, there will be about 10 million fewer people receiving a paycheck on Black Friday than last year. The median household income, adjusted for inflation, is about eight percent below its 2007 level, with most of the income growth seen by the top five percent of earners.
Big retail chains like Walmart, Target and Macy’s opened their doors at 6:00 pm Thursday in hopes of boosting their weekend sales.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 30th, 2014.
Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ