WSJ Your Money Briefing - Black Friday: How Some Shoppers Plan to Score the Best Deals

Episode Date: November 27, 2024

Despite the convenience of online shopping, many people are planning to brave the crowds and spend Black Friday in stores and malls. Wall Street Journal reporter Kate King joins host J.R. Whalen to discuss some of their strategies for finding deals on holiday gifts. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This podcast is brought to you by CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, offering the widest range of global benchmark products across all major asset classes. CME Group, where risk meets opportunity. Here's your money briefing for Wednesday, November 27th. I'm JR Whalen for the Wall Street Journal. Black Friday isn't what it used to be. Some retailers roll out their holiday discounts early, and a lot of folks who once braved the post-Thanksgiving crowds and traffic just go online now.

But the die-hard shoppers are undeterred and are gearing up for a day at the mall. Many people told me they feel that they're able to discover gifts that they wouldn't have found online. And they also are keeping their eye out for gifts for themselves, clothing, electronics. And mainly, they're just going for the fun of it. We'll talk to Wall Street Journal reporter Kate King after the break. and US recession risk exchanges on the market impact of AI

for the sharpest analysis on forces driving the markets and the economy count on exchanges between the leading minds at Goldman Sachs, new episodes every week. Listen now. Lots of shoppers plan to hit the malls on Black Friday looking for deals on holiday gifts. Wall Street Journal reporter Kate King joins us. Kate, the traffic and crowds haven't scared them away? No, these are the Black Friday diehards. They love going out, being amongst the crowds, hearing the Christmas music.

And they don't even mind standing in long lines at checkout. Wow. Now you spoke to several people who plan to do this on Friday. How are they preparing for the day? They are making their shopping lists, getting a sense of what gifts they want to get for their friends and family. They're looking at circulars that come in the mail or browsing online to see who's offering the best deal, which stores they want to go. And then they're just getting a good night's sleep and of course on the morning of having a big cup of coffee.

This is a big strategy thing, isn't it? Yes. I spoke with one man who goes out a few days before Black Friday and actually checks out the layout of Macy's and Dillard's to know where the items he wants to buy will be located within the stores So then on Black Friday when he gets there, he can just go pick up what he's had his eye on He scouts out the place in advance. Yes. He does reconnaissance in advance when the door is open He knows how to get to the table he wants to. Now, the people you spoke to who are going on Black Friday, including that gentleman,

what are they hoping to find when they get there? It's mainly holiday gifts or even just inspiration for holiday gifts. Many people told me they feel that they're able to discover gifts that they wouldn't have found online. And they also are keeping their eye out for gifts for themselves, clothing, electronics, and mainly they're just going for the fun of it. These are people who love shopping for many, it's traditions with family members or friends. And they just like spending a whole day in the stores amongst the crowds, really getting in the holiday spirit. So full disclosure, I'm going Black Friday shopping

on Friday, I think I need to pack my sneakers for the event. Definitely, where are you going first? I'm going to a mall in Connecticut, which has a big department store and lots of specialty shops. Ah, I'm not sure yet on my Black Friday plans, but definitely good to hydrate

and get ready to spend all day shopping. Well, we've also seen retailers roll out so-called doorbuster Black Friday sales a lot earlier. Why are they doing that? There's a couple reasons. It's hard for retailers to have such an important shopping day in terms of sales concentrated into just one calendar day. In the past, we saw safety concerns related to Black Friday.

Famously fist fights breaking out over electronics, in a few cases stampedes. One worker at a Walmart on Long Island was trampled to death several years ago. So it is a safety concern for retailers to have a crush of people in their stores early in the morning, lining up outside overnight. for retailers to have a crush of people in their stores early in the morning, lining up outside overnight. So that's one thing. The other thing is putting all your eggs in the Black Friday basket also presents a risk

in terms of what if there's a major weather event? What if there's a snowstorm or a hurricane or even just really bad rain and people decide not to go out to the stores? So for that reason, retailers are spreading out deals earlier and earlier throughout the month. And that kind of lets them capture more shoppers who might not want to go to the stores on Black Friday or be unable to, and mitigate their risk

for some kind of just really bad sales day, the day after Thanksgiving. How about Cyber Monday? Where does that rank in holiday shopping? Cyber Monday, when people shop online the Monday after Thanksgiving, is still important, but it's kind of subject to the same forces we've seen Black Friday experience. The earlier promotions by online retailers in the holiday season, for example, Amazon had its prime big deal days early in October this year. And of course, retailers beyond Amazon are offering online Black Friday deals in advance

of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So it's still an important shopping day, but not necessarily the be-all end-all. We all know our procrastinator, if not ourselves, and if people haven't begun their shopping and don't feel like heading out to the stores this week, have they missed out on getting good deals? I don't think the deals are going to be much better than you're seeing right now. And in fact, you run the risk of something you want being out of stock. I can attest to this personally. I had my eye on a coat at Afleta and it is now out of every single size except for extra,

extra small. I'm still keeping an eye out hoping they restock but I might have missed my chance for a deal on that one. In the past the day after Christmas retailers really offered the deepest discounts of the year. This is when they slashed their prices and you could get the best deal. During COVID the supply chain shortage meant that retailers sold out of their goods and didn't need to do deep discounts after Christmas. And they kind of liked this.

So they've adjusted their inventory and they're no longer really offering en masse these huge discounts right after Christmas. That's WSJ reporter Kate King. And that's it for your money briefing. We'll be off tomorrow for Thanksgiving, but we'll be back on Friday. This episode was produced by Ariana Osborne with supervising producer Melanie Roy. I'm JR Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. Thanks for listening.