I live in a town with 3 major malls which total just over 3.8 million square feet of retail floor space. Over the past 5 or 6 years I have seen traffic lessen on Black Friday and the surrounding holiday season, although getting around is still miserable!
This year especially was noticeably different on Black Friday. I have never been one to go out for the shopping brawls, however I use that Friday as a day off to catch up on personal tasks that get delayed due to work and school. I had to run many errands which did not involve any of the high traffic malls or stores I did not encounter as much traffic as is normally expected on Black Friday. I decided to research if the traffic reduction was due to people not shopping because there was not as much of a need for that deal as some of them were very similar to last year or due to the increase of online shopping. As the TechCrunch article states online sales through mobile devices for Thanksgiving/Black Friday totaled $4.5B.
The majority of online shopping this Black Friday season was done through mobile phones. I have not found data supporting how much was done via desktop, however it begs the question is this increase due to the time frames that online deals have been opened up to. As families are gathering for thanksgiving and finishing up dinner the sales begin which leads me to believe the rise in mobile shopping is due to individuals trying to multi-task family and there obsession with shopping. I feel this is the fundamental issue behind Thanksgiving/Black Friday sales. Family tradition is very important to me and my family, however, I do understand that for some that is not possible due to career choices or unforeseen circumstances. With that being said I feel that technology should never be the choice between interacting with people in a face to face manner.
I should also note that I am one to be against online shopping at all costs. I am a huge proponent of having the ability to gain a rapport with local business which you can walk in and know the people serving you and that I can at most times walk out with the product after inspecting it to be in good shape. Doing business with local companies also leads to one hand washing the other and having a good network of people you know you can trust and not have a computer answer when you call. All in all I feel that online/mobile shopping is distracting us from what is important and causing us to act more like robots.
No comments:
Post a Comment