Artwork by Michael DiMilo
By Geoff Carter
Black Friday, that orgy of rabid consumerism—a stampede sometimes as dangerous as the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona—was a bit of a disappointment this year. A number of stores did not open at four a.m. for shoppers to rampage through their aisles like a legion of Vikings; instead, merchants, citing labor shortages and other concerns, trimmed their hours, opening at nine or ten. And, because of out-of-stock items, rising inflation, and the ubiquity of online shopping, the impact of the great stampede of buying has been domesticated into the equivalent of a leisurely stroll through the mall. Retailers don’t have the personnel, the inventory, or the supply chains to sustain previous levels of consumer chaos.
Recent expansions of Black Friday deals into Thanksgiving Day and the following weekend—that stretch the “holiday” out to four days—and force many workers to forgo their holiday family time—has caused sales burnout among consumers, to say nothing of employees. Stretching Black Friday into the weekend also diffused sales numbers and consumer enthusiasm. People missed the rampaging—but not too much. They’ve turned instead to technology.
Cyber Monday, the online version of Black Friday, features significant savings for consumers—and the products are delivered directly to them. The convenience of online shopping seems to have replaced the need for many shoppers to head out to the mall and risk of contracting Covid—or of getting trampled.
Even so, according to NPR , this year’s Black Friday events still resulted in good-sized crowds, if not the usual deluge of shoppers brawling over items on the showroom floor. In Milwaukee, Mayfair Mall did not open its doors until nine a.m., yet sales were up compared to last year. Many shoppers who did go to take advantage of sale prices cited fears that items would not be available later in the season. And even though many retailers did not advertise their usual doorbuster deals, instead concentrating on online savings, venues still had respectable numbers.
It’s not as if Americans aren’t shopping anymore. Heaven forbid. According to Alina Selyukh in an NPR interview, the National Retail Foundation predicts that we will spend eighty six billion dollars on holiday shopping this year, up ten percent from last year—also a record year for holiday shopping. She attributes stimulus money, pent-up demand, and the inability to spend money on vacations or other public activities to increased consumerism. So, if people aren’t buying on Black Friday, when are they doing it? The answer is that they never stop.
According to Kit Yarrow, PhD, an expert on computer behavior, in an interview in American Psychological Association, most basic shopping behaviors have not changed, but triggers for buying are now much different. She states she has never seen consumers more driven to bargain shopping, a symptom of what she has called FOMO, or fear of missing out—a feeling perhaps exacerbated by the monumental hoarding seen during the pandemic quarantine. Add-on purchases (you know those little items by the checkout counters we grab at the last minute) are also still going strong.
She maintains that products geared toward alleviating anxiety, like CBD products, sleep aids, and alcohol seem to be much more in demand—which, considering our present national state—is no surprise. In the post-pandemic era, consumers also seem to be seeking different sorts of connections by patronizing companies that have aligned themselves with social causes like climate change or #MeToo. At a time when social connections are risky, consumers seek a sense of belonging through their product choice. Yarrow uses the example of a buyer choosing to buy local, believing they are supporting their community by doing so
As David Byrne says in the film True Stories, “The shopping mall has replaced the town square as the center of many American cities. Shopping itself has become the activity that brings people together,” Except now the mall is virtual and our sense of togetherness comes in a box.
So, in short, the more changes the more they seem to stay the same. While people are not storming local box stores on Black Friday anymore, they are still buying like crazy—and for the same reasons they have always bought. We go shopping to fulfill our needs, our wants (and to define those wants), or to feel better. We go seeking out deals because we fear missing out or being left behind. We shop where we shop to define ourselves, to make connections, and to (in a left-handed way) help society at large. We don’t, at least to the same degree, go to a central location to shop anymore. That might change; it might not. The convenience of shopping from home might rule out taking a trip to the mall. And then, who knows when we’ll see each other?
Even if the new town center is no longer a physical space, but a virtual one, some things will never change. As another True Stories character, Kay Culver, says most succinctly, “Shopping is a feeling.”
For Americans, it’s a way of life.