Black Friday 2020: Crowds Down As Online Sales Surge, But Long Lines Still Persist

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November 28, 2020

Topline

Shoppers turned out for Black Friday as the holiday season officially gets underway, with photos showing long lines at stores nationwide, but crowds were down as retailers imposed measures to avoid packed stores amid the Covid-19 pandemic and more Americans take their holiday shopping online.

People wearing masks walk into Macy’s on Black Friday on November 27, 2020 in New York City. (Photo … [+] by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

Shoppers lined up at stores early Friday to get holiday deals, with photos showing sizable crowds at large retailers like Best Buy and Walmart.

Traffic at the King of Prussia mall near Philadelphia was “down a little bit but heavier than I thought,” Bill Park, a partner at Deloitte & Touche LP, told Reuters Friday, estimating mall crowds were down by 20% to 30% from last year.

Reports nationwide suggest that Black Friday crowds were lower than anticipated in many places, however, including Chicago, Houston and Portland, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports traffic at the Mall of America was down by 80% from last year.

Many stores had actively tried to deter big crowds from forming on Friday, implementing measures like expanded curbside pickup and rolling out holiday deals in the weeks before Black Friday to spread out crowds.

Online sales on Thanksgiving Day hit a record $5.1 billion, according to Adobe Analytics, marking a 21.5% increase over 2019 and suggesting more shoppers are purchasing things online instead of in person.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified “going shopping in crowded stores just before, on, or after Thanksgiving” as a higher risk activity in its guidelines for the holiday season.

Big Number

42%. That’s the percentage of shoppers who said they had started their holiday shopping earlier than usual, according to a survey by the National Retail Foundation released Nov. 16. The NRF projects that holiday sales this year will rise by between 3.6% and 5.2% over 2019 overall, while online and non-store sales will increase by between 20% and 30%.

Crucial Quote

“I don’t think you’re going to see a lot of people today. I think people are going to shop online,” Dana Telsey, CEO of consumer-focused brokerage firm Telsey Advisory Group, told CNBC Friday. “It just isn’t going to be the same type of holiday season because you don’t have the ability to interact with other people. You’re going solo. That’s what holiday 2020′s about.”