With the holidays approaching very rapidly, the question of where or how to shop on the most shopped day of the year continues to pop up. As times change and technology advances, there become resources that may seem more practical to us than getting in the car and driving to the nearest mall to spend the entire day buying our favorite clothes and accessories. The question is which do you prefer: Black Friday shopping online or in-person?   

Traditionally, Black Friday shopping was always done in person, due to its rare finds, stocked inventory, and sometimes exclusive sales; however, due to the major pandemic, accessibility, and Americans’ natural laziness, people have turned their back on malls and opened their computers. On Black Friday, 72% of Americans plan to both head to the shops and hop online, but how many people will flood the malls? According to an article by Amanda Hetler, “Forty-nine percent of Gen X and baby boomers prefer to visit physical stores to test out products.” Sadly, this number continues to decrease. Due to the pandemic, numbers continue to drop due to the germs and stress of being so close to others. The worry is that black Friday shopping in malls will cease to exist as we know it, and cyber-Monday will take over the biggest week of shopping in the year.   

In more recent years, online shopping has become more popular. Especially since 2020, people tend to not want to place themselves in crowded areas where they can catch unknown diseases. However, online shopping already had its place during the week after Thanksgiving, known as Cyber Monday. So why are people not going in person during Black Friday and staying home and shopping via their technology? This question could be answered in many ways: from people who are traveling during the holidays and cannot make it to the mall, stress, and anxiety from shopping in crowded areas, and convenience of just lounging and browsing via your phone or computer. Sources conclude that more than half of Black Friday shoppers will be purchasing their Black Friday inventory online this year.   

 Whether you shop online or in person is based on your preferences; however, I expect this not to be the case over the next few years. Do you think that online shopping will take over Black Friday or will malls begin to flourish again and win back the day of Black Friday?