The Black Friday sales rush has started, but market observers are reporting that the shopping crowd is thinner than usual and the overall atmosphere not as frenetic as before, a CNET report says.
"This is the first year we're not seeing so much of a focus on Black Friday itself, says industry analyst Stephen Baker. "More and more of the market intensity is being driven to Thanksgiving week."
As market observers point out, one of the big factors for the decline in Black Friday sales could be the early deals offered by retailers. A lot of the well-known retailers, including online store Amazon, have been offering Black Friday deals as early as four days ago.
James Russo, VP of Consumer Insights for Nielsen, says the early deals did play a part "to some extent" in lessening the impact and importance of Black Friday, adding that the day "is certainly no longer the start of the holiday season."
Shoppers still came out in droves, though, as retailers enjoyed doing brisk business overnight. The Lighthouse Premium Mall in Indiana was open to shoppers all night long, while Walmart reported 22 million customers inside their stores nationwide, according to the New York Times.
However, the diminished relevancy of the single-day Black Friday shopping bonanza was also felt by the customers themselves. "I'm not sure there's anything such as Black Friday anymore," said one shopper in Virginia, while another one in Boston said he was "disappointed" to see a lesser crowd than expected.
With a lot of the major retailers serving up extended deals rather than limiting them to one big shopping day, plus savvy customers making their purchases online, the thinner crowds on Black Friday seem like "a sign of what has become the new norm in U.S. holiday shopping", writes Nathan Layne of Reuters.
As a result, Black Friday turned out to be a "quieter experience on what has traditionally been one of the busiest, and sometimes most chaotic, shopping days of the year," adds Layne.