Gone is the Black Friday experience of waiting in lines to enter a store to fight for first-come, first-serve deals — at least for now. In a year like no other, 2020 holiday shopping will also be different this year.
Retailers started Black Friday sales earlier than ever, preloading stores with hot selling items, pushing curbside pick-up, intentionally creating cleaner environments and creating space for social distancing, according to Mike Watson, a retail instructor at USC.
“You know you’re having easily 35-40% more revenue going to be generated online than last year,” said Watson.
This year more than ever, small business owners are asking communities to support them during the holiday shopping season. After those businesses took hits from COVID, the city of Columbia is urging people to “Support small. Save local.” with a new campaign to encourage shopping at small businesses.
Mayor Steve Benjamin and the Columbia Office of Economic Development created an online campaign to “help raise awareness and drive additional traffic to these small businesses,” according to a release.
“This holiday gifting season, look for big changes in shopping traditions,” said Kimberly Senter, executive vice president of analytics, insights and intelligence at Advantage Sales. “Just 28% of people surveyed plan to participate in Black Friday, down 18 percentage points from those who said they shopped last year.”
Here’s what some local business owners are doing for Black Friday this year:
State Street Trading Company: The West Columbia store will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Black Friday. Owner Lainie Lewis said that she is marking down items more than usual this year because of a larger inventory.
The shop carries anything from original art prints and antiques to jewelry and pottery, which will be 20% off on Friday. Lewis said 90% of items are local and artisan made.
“Instead of ordering something from Amazon, you know, the local shops and merchants, especially on State Street, we need everybody to come in and patronize our shops,” said Lewis.
Be Beep a Toy Shop: Ava Allen opened this toy shop on Forest Drive in 1986. On Friday, Be Beep will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and all items will be 20% off.
Every year, Allen has a 20% off sale on toys for Black Friday. She said she doesn’t know what to expect this year as far as how busy the shop will be.
“I think people have rallied for small businesses, but I have no idea what this year will bring,” said Allen.
Half Moon Outfitters: The outdoor clothing and gear store on Devine Street will be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is one of 9 Half Moon Outfitters stores in S.C. and Georgia owned by Beezer Molten.
This year, Half Moon is extending Black Friday sales to its online products. Assistant store manager Robert Earnest said that online sales have doubled this year for the Columbia store, but in-person visits are low.
The Early Thanksgiving Sale for Half Moon Outfitters is already live on the website. The website encourages shopping before Black Friday to avoid shipping delays and also offers options to order online and pick up in store.
Re-InVintage: The home goods store on Harden Street will participate in Small Business Saturday instead of Black Friday.
Small business Saturday is a national day to support small businesses after Black Friday that was founded by American Express in 2010, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Owner Treva James said the store will offer curbside pick-up and 20% off all items on Saturday.
The store sells reclaimed items from local craftsmen and vendors and normally offers painting workshops for people to learn how to reclaim old furniture. The Re-InVintage online shop is open, though James said it has not gotten busier during the pandemic.
How national retailers are handling Black Friday 2020:
From starting sales early, to beefing up online ordering systems, chain retailers are changing strategies for Black Friday this year.
“A lot of stores clearly aren’t planning for that same, traditional, everybody line up at the front door and we open the doors and you rush in,” said Watson. “Retailers have been planning on pre-Black Friday stuff for a while now, so they’ve been trying to push consumers to online as much as possible to take advantage of early deals so they lessen the amount of time in store.”
Here is how these national chain retailers are handling Black Friday a little differently, as first reported by The New York Times:
Walmart, Target, and Home Depot extended its sales to last throughout the months of November and December to reduce lines and spread out the amount of people visiting the stores.
Walmart will open at 5 a.m. on Black Friday and will only allow a 20% capacity of shoppers to fill the store. Employees are supposed to monitor the line and hand out sanitized carts to customers.
Target stores will place check-out stations all around the store to reduce lines, will increase the number of same-day pick-up items and is encouraging shoppers to use its mobile check-out app.
Home Depot stores reduced the amount of products on display to allow for more social distancing, while Best Buy is only offering its new gaming consoles online this year to reduce lines. Best Buy is also extending curbside pick-up to be available before and after in-store hours.
What are people buying this year?
The biggest trends in buying this year will be items that bring people comfort or distraction, said Watson.
Items such as personal massagers, video games, smart mirrors for exercising, bar tending kits and cooking items are trending, according to Watson.
“People know they’re going to be home and people know that even if they can’t travel and be together with others, they still want to somehow have that experience of entertaining or having a holiday,” said Watson.
With the decline in services this year, people are shifting their spending to goods and “affordable luxury,” Watson said. Additionally, he estimates that shoppers will buy more small items for gifting this year to save money on shipping since many are forgoing travel.
“Given the number of American families whose finances were impacted by COVID-19, I was surprised to learn that more than half still planned to spend the same amount on gift giving as last year,” said Senter.
As far as shopping local, “I think it’s a small trend upwards,” said Watson, because people are still going to shop for convenience, but may be more aware during a season of giving that small businesses need support.
“At the end of the day, people understand that small businesses are what drives the economy,” said Watson.