Survey finds Black Friday store shopping is losing its luster

The retail tradition of in-store shopping on Black Friday seems to have lost its appeal due  to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new survey conducted by CommerceHub.

In a nationwide poll of 2,500 adults, 70% of respondents said they would not spend the day after Thanksgiving cruising the retail stores for their holiday shopping. Instead, 83% of respondents said they planned to do more than half of their holiday shopping online this year, compared with 59% of consumers polled in a survey conducted last year. And 71% of respondents believed there will be better deals on the e-commerce sites for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday than could be found in brick-and-mortar stores.

Still, American shoppers like their traditions and they are not interested in conducting their holiday shopping too far ahead of the year-end festivities: 40% of the survey respondents said they did not purchase holiday gifts on Amazon”™s Prime Day last month because it was too early and they were eager to see if there were better deals closer to the holidays.

As for those who will hit the stores for their holiday shopping, 81% of respondents said they were more likely to shop in person at a store that requires customers to wear a mask this holiday season. But the in-store crowd isn”™t eager to encounter Santa Claus: 68% of respondents did not believe it was safe for parents to have their children visit Santa Claus at the mall this year.

And, of course, what”™s a 2020 news item without politics? CommerceHub found 65% of Democrat respondents will not be shopping in person during this holiday season out of concerns over the pandemic, compared with 35% of Republicans, while 71% of Democrats and 64% of Republican said they will not be going out to shop in person on Black Friday.

As for stores with mask mandates, 91% of Democrats are more likely to patronize stores that have mask mandates while 70% of Republicans shared that sentiment.