Americans still like Black Friday

Americans have not lost their affection for heading to stores on Black Friday.

More than half (63%) of Americans consider in-store Black Friday shopping a tradition and 42% said in-store Black Friday shopping holds more importance for them than it did before the pandemic, according to a survey from video-based human insight company UserTesting. And two in five miss the “chaos” of in-person Black Friday shopping.

The study, conducted by OnePoll, also revealed that consumers who prefer to shop in-store do so for a variety of reasons, with instant gratification a top motivator (33%), followed by having better sales or deals in person (26%), having better deals in-store than online (26%), and being able to secure items ahead of time (23%).

When asked what online shopping features they wished they could bring into a store with them, respondents said they’d like to see where items are located in-store (51%) and use promo codes/digital coupons (47%).

Other findings from the study are below.

• Nearly all (95%) plan to participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday events for 2022 with one-third planning to shop both online and in-store.
• Despite inflation, 31% plan to spend more money than previous years. 26% plan to spend about the same amount as previously and 40% plan to spend less.
• Despite inflation, nearly one-third expect to spend more money on Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2022 than in previous years.
• More Gen Zers than millennials cited immediate fulfillment as their primary driver to shop these events in person (81% vs 49%).

“The pandemic has certainly made many people nostalgic for the in-person Black Friday experience, but it’s also heightened their expectations,” said Janelle Estes, chief insights officer at UserTesting. “Our research shows half of consumers who plan to shop in stores for this year’s Black Friday events would like smart shopping carts to navigate through the aisles and easily find products—underscoring the demand for retailers to provide customers with an effortless shopping journey.”