All major retailers have started advertising Black Friday deals. Now everyone is watching closely and putting together their shopping lists patiently.

To draw in more crowds retailers are starting early so we will see significant markdowns as early as Monday the 1st of November.

Wayfair is starting its pre-Black Friday sales as part of the Cyber Month campaign starting on November 1st. Macy’s announced huge savings for their shoppers across home, tech, beauty, jewelry, and fashion departments, with sales starting on November 3rd.

Overstock has already launched their Holiday Home Sale with markdowns going as low as 70% off on the select items. We are yet to see what Black Friday specials are going to bring.

Even though brick-and-mortar is on the rebound, with an increase of 55% we have seen in July. Pandemic is still a factor when deciding whether to shop online or visit a mall.

Last year only 4% of shoppers said they would do their holiday shopping in stores. This year 25% of surveyed retailers are abandoning in-store Black Friday events. The shopping season is moving digital.

As absolute leaders in the online space, Walmart and Amazon marketplaces are sure to drive in most of the holiday shoppers. Their internal workings will force marketplace sellers to go as low and hard as financially and/or physically possible to achieve results Amazon’s shareholders expect in Q4.

According to the National Retail Foundation, Thanks Giving weekend 2020 drew 186.4 million U.S. shoppers overall, which was 1.7% less than 2019. But if we are to look at online sales only: they grew 19% over 2019.

With online sales on a constant upwards trajectory, continued hesitance for in-person shopping in part of the consumer population, and Black Friday sales stretching over a month we can expect a busy holiday season for everyone in the e-commerce business.