Black Friday in 2021: What Consumers Can Expect

Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.

Black Friday is a little more than a week away, but as retail companies gear up for a weekend full of sales, it’s important to note how the pandemic has changed the ways consumers will shop in 2021. 

Dean Salkin, a business manager at a Bloomingdale’s department store in California, said he expects people to shop in stores on this Black Friday because people miss human connection. 

“The reason people shop in stores is for human connections, if you shop online it may bring up little pictures that say people who bought this also bought this, but people miss human connection because of COVID,” he said. 

For those who opt to shop in-person during Black Friday, stores are doing their part to keep customers safe. 

Salkin said Bloomingdale’s has dressing rooms blocked off so staff can control who is going in and out of them. The dressing rooms are disinfected throughout the day, he said, and employees enforce a mask requirement inside the store. 

But, as much as people miss shopping in person, experts aren’t expecting big crowds like the retail world saw pre-pandemic. This is due in part to the fact that many Americans are still fearful of the Delta variant and other mutations of the virus that COVID-19. Others may simply find it more convenient to shop at home and compare prices online. 

The pandemic caused extreme digital surges that have left a lasting impression. Adobe predicts that not only will online shopping still trump in-store, but that 73% of total ecommerce sales will happen on mobile in 2021.

Adobe is also forecasting a 10%  increase from last year in the amount consumers will spend online shopping this holiday season.

Shopping online, especially on mobile emphasizes an important shift in consumer behaviors over the past year — the need for convenience. 

Audrey Lewis, a marketing specialist at San Diego-based marketing tech company Tealium, said the large portion of Black Friday shopping will be done online, with mobile and web leading the way. 

“To consumers, this looks like enhanced mobile experiences, simplified and easy to find customer service, the ability to schedule in-store pickups, and more efficient return processes like in-store dropoff, and being able to have their returns picked up from their home,” Lewis said. 

According to Lewis, the need for convenience stems, in part, for the need for safer experiences. 

“With in-store shopping mostly on hold, brands needed to find a way to help their consumers complete their holiday shopping in a way that was comfortable and respected their health,” she said. 

Convenience isn’t the only trend coming out of the pandemic, the need for personalization and brand loyalty is extremely important to consumers.  

“Everywhere we look our experiences are personalized, from the shows recommended to us on Netflix to the items Amazon suggests we add to our carts,” Lewis said. 

CRM Magazine reports that consumers expect personalization and respond negatively when it’s not there, with 72% saying they will switch brands after one bad or unpersonalized experience. 

“Last year, so many new brands came into the market, causing brand loyalty to be tested,” Lewis said. 

Regardless of how people shop, the National Retail Federation (NRF) expects another “record-setting holiday season with sales forecast to grow between 8.5% to 10.5% over 2020.”

What people are buying has changed from a year ago as well. Salkin said people are now shopping for more trendy and expensive items, a drastic shift from a year ago.

“When the pandemic started it was all about comfort, so we saw brands like Alo Yoga and Lululemon go through the roof,” he said. “Really expensive items and even denim took a hit because people weren’t going out. 

But now, things are different. 

“People are over it. They want to start going out more, they want to look good and up their wardrobe,” he said. 

And due to the supply chain challenges the United States is facing, retailers are encouraging their shoppers to start their holiday shopping early. 

In 2021, Black Friday isn’t just a one-day event. Department stores like Target, Wayfair, Best Buy and Macys have started to roll out deals for the entire month of November. 

“It’s actually important for consumers to shop early because of supply chain shortages and persisting shipping delays,” Lewis said.  

And it appears consumers are getting the message. The NRF said 49% of consumers started shopping before November and more than one-third said “they did so because they don’t want to miss out on key holiday items.”

NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said during a holiday forecast call that those “who started early and have a gameplan are going to get exactly what they want” while others “won’t go home empty-handed.”

[getsocial app=”sharing_bar”]

---

---

Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:

• Vaccine Mandate Opposition Has Limited Courtroom Success; Supreme Court May Weigh In Soon
• ‘And then next thing you know, we ran out completely’: the Colonial Pipeline debacle and what it means in the age of ransomware
• For the Wrongfully Convicted, Justice Can Be Hard to Come By
• Families Plan Class Action Lawsuit Over New York’s Nursing Home Deaths From COVID-19