Richa Naidu; Arriana McCLymore

CHICAGO (Reuters). Earlier Friday morning, many U.S. retailers opened their doors for shoppers. Early birds ventured out in hopes of finding gifts to put under the Christmas tree.

The day after the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, known as Black Friday https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/with-us-inventories-tight-black-friday-drags-through-november-2021-11-23, officially kicks off the year-end shopping season https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/investors-watch-retail-stocks-us-holiday-shopping-beckons-2021-11-24. Most years retailers offered discounts up to 50% on everything, from clothes and toys to televisions. This prompted shoppers to queue for hours outside of stores to grab bargains.

However, online shopping has made Black Friday more popular, and in particular 2020 where people still weren’t fully vaccinated, they are less likely to be worried about COVID-19.

Regardless, early queues were expected, with some shoppers worried that an ongoing supply chain logjam https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/containergeddon-supply-crisis-drives-walmart-rivals-hire-their-own-ships-2021-10-07 might prevent retailers from stocking sought-after items such as Hoverboard scooters, Nerf toys, Oculus Quest 2 headsets, AirPods Pro earbuds, and MacBook Air laptops.

Walmart (NYSE 🙂 Best Buy Target (NYSE:) this year did not require shoppers who have been vaccinated to wear masks, but some indoor malls kept existing mask requirements https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/major-us-companies-making-masks-vaccines-mandatory-2021-07-30.

Attest’s consumer research platform showed that two thirds of the 1,000 respondents surveyed Nov. 13, were comfortable shopping in person, despite the continuing pandemic.

“People are looking to get back to normal,” said Rod Sides, Deloitte’s U.S. retail leader. “The early internet birds and those that visited the stores may have the advantage.”

A Deloitte survey https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/retail-distribution/holiday-retail-sales-consumer-survey.html showed people had already spent 80%-85% of their budgets before Black Friday. However, two-fifths said they would wait in line at shops on Black Friday between 6 and 8 a.m.

Nivia Lopez, 26, from Bolingbrook, Illinois, has already scratched perfumes and makeup from Ulta Beauty (NASDAQ:) off her Christmas list, but is venturing out to Victoria’s Secret, Best Buy and Nordstrom (NYSE:) on Black Friday. Lopez is a traditional Thanksgiving shopper who took advantage of online sales before most stores closed.

As stores welcome holiday shoppers, some may be reevaluating their security measures after high-end stores in some U.S. cities were targeted by brazen “smash-and-grab” robberies https://www.reuters.com/world/us/holidays-near-smash-and-grab-robbers-hit-us-luxury-retailers-2021-11-23, where masked thieves stuff bags full of merchandise.

ONLINE VS. STANDING IN LINE

U.S. shoppers enter the holidays brimming with holiday spending power, thanks to an ever-larger pile of government relief and double-digit wage increases year over year as companies compete for workers.

Data out Wednesday showed consumer spending grew by a greater-than-expected 1.3% in October. While the main figure was lifted due to large-ticket items like cars, the data showed that broad-based spending increased on services such as travel.

Just outside of the store, online and brick-and mortar retailing are joined. Target and Macy’s (NYSE) retailers, as well as Walmart, all gave more floor space to workers and allocated additional staff for Black Friday.

Walmart, the largest retailer in the world, employed 150,000 people for holidays. Many of these workers were for this job. Target has added over 18,000 parking spots for “drive up” customers, almost doubling its number from last year.

According to Adobe (NASDAQ.) Digital Economy Index which revealed that curbside pickup was up 92% in November, compared with 2019, Adobe (NASDAQ.:) Digital Economy Index showed that 23% of all online orders received on Nov 23 were for curbside pick-up.

Grace Lafortune (and Hayden Willis) were visiting Chicago for Thanksgiving. They arranged their tickets early on BlackFriday before returning home to Seattle.

I feel that there is more choice online. Lafortune of 22 years, who was looking for gifts for Willis’ sister and her mother, shopped online at Nordstrom Rack and Anthropologie to find them.

Adobe reports that out-of stock messages rose 8% in the week ending November 23rd, compared to the previous week. Over the course of November, outof-stocks rose 261% in comparison to 2019.

Andy Halliwell (senior director retail, consultancy Publicis Sapient) stated that there are currently shortages of toys at a few big retailers in North America. “I think we’ll see similar shortages with electronics.”

According to Adobe, electronics, which are in limited supply because of a global shortage of chips, had the most out-of stock levels. Personal care, garden and housekeeping followed closely by baby and toddler products.

You might not see eight TV stands high, but instead of eight TV boxes, there could be three to four TV stacks. Marshal Cohen from NPD said you may see less bicycles in racks.

Many retailers are having to cut down on their discounts due to higher supply-chain costs.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that apparel prices increased 8.6% over the first ten months of this year, on a nonseasonally adjusted basis. This is compared to the 0% growth in the first decade of 2020, and the 4.7% rise in the first decade of 2019. The Consumer Price Index rose 6.2% in October and November, respectively.