Inflation worries drive bargain hunting among US Black Friday shoppers

FORT WAYNE, Indiana/NORTH BERGEN, New Jersey/RALEIGH, North Carolina/SANTA BARBARA, California – Brushing snowflakes off her hair, Ms Teagan Hickson walked into a Walmart Supercentre in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with hopes of picking up a few holiday deals on Black Friday, which falls on Nov 29 in 2024.

The first thing the mother of two spotted: a pallet stacked high with Gourmia digital air fryer ovens for US$50 (S$67) each.

Her sister Jordan had been wanting one, she said, but money was tight right now for everyone in her family. She worried about expenses in 2025, after reading posts on Facebook about price hikes if

US President-elect Donald Trump’s planned tariffs

go into effect in January.

“I’m trying to not spend too much,” said Ms Hickson, 43. “I don’t want to add to my (credit card bill), but I don’t want to pay more for stuff next year.”

As retailers reopened US stores after the American Thanksgiving holiday, some locations drew clusters of shoppers. People were eager to see stores’ Black Friday discounts, often comparing them to rivals’ prices for similar merchandise online.

Weighing on the minds of many Americans: Should prices rise in 2025 as a result of Trump’s move to implement new tariffs on some US imports, consumers like Ms Hickson could feel impact at grocery stores and restaurants, potentially driving up their living costs.

At Walmart, Ms Hickson called her husband Josh, who was sitting in front of his computer at home and ready to compare prices in the store with what they could find online.

“Baby, this looks pretty nice,” she told him. “What’s it online?”

A few seconds later, he found a similar model on Amazon for double the price. She grabbed a box, put it in her cart, and headed deeper into the big-box store.

Walmart, which operates 4,700 US stores, offered deals on Samsung TVs, Dyson vacuum cleaners, Lego and Hot Wheels toys, Levi’s jeans, and air fryers.

“I find the prices pretty much the same as last year,” said Ms Cristal Lopez as she pushed a cart full of clothing and a couple of sling tote bags through the aisles of a North Bergen, New Jersey, Walmart Supercentre. She intends to spend US$1,000 to US$2,000 in total – same as in 2023 – on holiday purchases, mostly on clothing.

Americans bought more merchandise using their mobile phones and laptops, spending US$7.9 billion online until 6.30pm ET (7.30am on Nov 30, Singapore time), up 8.2 per cent compared to a year ago, according to Adobe Analytics. It keeps track of devices that use Adobe’s software to help power more than one trillion visits  to US retail sites.

Shoppers looking to upgrade their TVs found discounts peaking at 24 per cent off listed price, according to Adobe’s analysis of retailers’ online prices. On average, retailers offered 25 per cent discounts to shoppers globally, compared to 26 per cent a year ago, on websites and apps at late afternoon Eastern time, according to Salesforce, a cloud-based software company that analyses e-commerce traffic patterns.

‘Spontaneous purchases’

Still, the US retail trade group the National Retail Federation expects roughly 85.6 million shoppers to have visited stores in 2024, up from 76 million in 2023. Shoppers have only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, against a more leisurely 31 days in 2023.

Adding pressure for retailers is inflation-fatigued shoppers’ reluctance to splurge unless they get good deals.

“With fewer days to shop, consumers are more likely to make spontaneous purchases, contributing to retail growth during the holiday season,” said Mr Marshal Cohen, chief retail adviser at Circana, a research firm.

Ms Evelyn Contre, 49, waited in a 20-person line at a Lululemon store with her two daughters. She had already browsed the websites of Abercrombie and Lululemon on Nov 28 for Black Friday deals before heading into Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Nov 29.

Early crowds were sparse at a Macy’s store in Santa Barbara, California, despite its discounts reaching 50 per cent for home goods and clothing. Retiree John Dillard, 66, was shopping for Levi’s 504 jeans, which Macy’s offered at 40 per cent off their usual US$60 price. Bargains were important to him, he said.

Target is selling a new Taylor Swift Eras Tour book, and exclusive Wicked-related products, including Wicked soundtrack CDs for US$39.99, with an offer of buy two, get one free for Target Circle members.

The retailer also cut prices by US$100 on products such as a 75-inch Westinghouse TV and Nintendo Switch gaming console, and took more than 50 per cent off Barbie dolls, Keurig coffee machines and KitchenAid mixers, deals which started on Thanksgiving and run until Nov 30.

“Black Friday is just not what it used to be,” said Mr Hoss Moss, a 58-year-old chef from New Jersey, who stood outside a Target store for the first time in 15 years to buy pop star Swift’s book for his teenage daughter.

“Grocery prices are (high) and... even clothing is not at a price you would get before.” He said his family of four plans to spend US$2,000 to US$3,000 on gifts in 2024, mostly at Macy’s and Lululemon. REUTERS