Thursday is Thanksgiving: a time to be with friends and family, eat too much and remember the things in life that really matter. But come Friday – Black Friday – all bets are off. Elbows are thrown in malls, people have been lined up outside some stores for weeks to get a big screen for a bargain basement price and all that affirmation we felt the day before about what matters is thrown out the window when we see a pair of moms on the news clawing at the last doll on a shelf.
Immediately after Thanksgiving comes a spree of named days, each focusing on a different aspect of consumption. Black Friday is for binge buying and getting as much as possible in a day-long, whirlwind run through shopping centers and malls.
Small Business Saturday is sponsored by American Express and is meant to give a leg up to local retailers. Life-Choice-Assessment Sunday follows (not really, but . . .); that’s when deal hunters check their account balances and recharge after two days of power-shopping.
And topping it off is Cyber Monday. Exhausted from in-person shopping, consumers take to their phones and keyboards from the comfort of their homes – or work – to land deals at online marketplaces like Amazon.
BlackFriday.com says Idaho will be doing its part to push retailers back into the black Friday. Using survey data, the website reports the top product Idaho residents will be on the hunt for, both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, is smart home gadgets.
The other thing Gem State shoppers, 17 percent of them, will be picking up Friday is gift cards. After contraptions to make homes smarter, shoppers Cyber Monday will be on the hunt for clothing deals. Nearly 30 percent of shoppers BlackFriday.com checked in with say cheap, expedited shipping is the perk they most look forward to cashing in on this holiday season.
Nationwide, just three in 10 Americans say they don’t plan to do any shopping over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to Offers.com. Cyber Monday has eclipsed Black Friday in buying popularity; 71 percent plan to surf deals Monday on the web versus 69 percent of consumers who say they’ll hit the mall Friday.
And, no roundup of data would be complete without looking at those strange, alien creatures called Millennials. About a quarter of the cohort ranging in age from 18 to 34 plan to look for deals on experiences rather than stuff. But things are still hot commodities; the top three things Millennials are trying to save a buck on this season are clothes, video games and . . . toys. Yes, toys. Sometimes Millennials, you do it to yourselves.
For more local news, follow the KBSX newsroom on Twitter @KBSX915
Copyright 2017 Boise State Public Radio