Authors: Siddharth Cavale, James Davey and Helen Reid
NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) – Taylor Swift’s up-to-date $39.99 book Eras Tour sold only at Objective (NYSE:) to Jessica Simpson’s $50.99 down coat at Walmart (NYSE:) marked down from $84.99, and U.S. and European retailers are offering bargain-hunting exclusives and deep discounts on Black Friday.
With retailers opening stores as early as 5 a.m. after the American Thanksgiving holiday, they hope more people will be willing to close their shopping lists despite the shorter window.
At 5:30 a.m. outside a Target store in North Bergen, New Jersey, 20 people were standing in line for the doors to open at 6 a.m.
At least 18 people were waiting to purchase exclusive Taylor Swift merchandise from Target. When the doors opened, Jonathan Baldera, the store manager, let five people into a separate line of Swift products at a time.
He said it was the first time since the pandemic that he saw people lining up outside that store on Black Friday.
“It’s a Taylor Swift craze,” he said, adding that the store has about 70 vinyl albums and more Eras Tour books in stock. He said buyers were restricted to 4 books and 4 albums from the Eras Tour.
London-listed electrical goods retailer Currys, which is offering £171 ($217) off its Shark cordless vacuum cleaners, said popular products so far include Sony (NYSE:), PlayStation 5, fryers, retro technology such as Polaroid cameras, beer dispensers, pizza ovens and tumble dryers.
“The reason I’m here is because I think everything is too expensive,” said Kate Isaienko, 26, as she browsed a Zara store on Oxford Street, one of London’s main shopping districts.
Isaienko, who took the day off to boost sales, said clothing prices at Zara had increased significantly since she moved from Ukraine to London and that she wanted to take advantage of the discounts.
In the US, Walmart with 4,700 US stores opened its doors at 6 a.m., as did Target with 1,963 stores.
Some, such as J.C. Penney, opened as early as 5 a.m. to give shoppers a good start to their holiday shopping.
Best buy (NYSE:)), Lowe’s (NYSE:) and Home warehouse (NYSE:) also opened its doors at 6 a.m., and Costco (NASDAQ:)), TJ Maxx, Ikea and Sephora were open between 7 a.m. and 10 a.m., according to local store listings.
This year, Walmart is offering a variety of deals on Samsung (KS:) TVs, Dyson vacuum cleaners, Lego and Hot Wheels toys, Levi’s (NYSE:) jeans and fryers, although pre-Black Friday discounts began on November 11.
“Spontaneous Shopping”
Adding to the pressure on retailers is the reluctance of inflation-weary shoppers to spend if they don’t get good deals.
Target $100 off prices on products like the Westinghouse 75-inch TV and Nintendo Switch (NYSE:) and took advantage of more than 50% off Barbie dolls, Keurig coffee makers and KitchenAid mixers that started on Thanksgiving and continued through Saturday.
The retailer is selling exclusive “Wicked” merchandise, including “Wicked” soundtrack CDs for $39.99, with a buy-two-get-one-free offer for Target Circle members.
American retail group the Domestic retail (NYSE:) The federation expects about 85.6 million customers to visit stores this year, up from 76 million last year. Shoppers only have 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, compared to last year’s quieter 31 days.
“With fewer shopping days, consumers are more likely to make spontaneous purchases, which helps drive retail growth during the holiday season,” said Marshal Cohen, chief retail advisor at Circana.
After most US retailers were closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday, Black Friday marks the start of the holiday shopping season and is known for crowds lining up at large box stores to get “huge” discounts.
But it has lost its luster as more Americans shop online, a trend that has accelerated as a result of the pandemic.
Major brick-and-mortar retail chains plan to showcase interactive products and experiences, including Ray-Ban augmented reality glasses, extra-large TVs at Best Buy electronics store and spa services at a U.S. department store chain Nordstrom Inc . (NYSE:)
British department store John Grapple (JO:) offered discounts of up to £300 on Samsung TVs, £210 on Nespresso coffee machines and up to £50 on Apple (NASDAQ:) products.
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