Business
Deal-hungry shoppers hit stores on Black Friday to kick off critical holiday season
Bustling crowds and early-morning lines were back as this year’s Black Friday weekend kicked off — a hopeful sign for retailers as they head into the critical holiday shopping season with consumers still grappling with inflation and economic uncertainty.
Shoppers plan to spend an average of $650 during the four-day consumer sprint from Black Friday through Cyber Monday, according to a Deloitte survey, up 15% from last year. Eight out of 10 people said they planned to do some sort of shopping during that stretch, when retailers try to jumpstart holiday sales with deals, the survey found.
The National Retail Federation also made encouraging projections, saying it expects as much as $989 billion in sales during the holiday shopping season, which would mark a 3.5% jump over last year’s total.
Although that would be a slower pace of growth compared with holiday shopping in previous years, NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said, “We remain optimistic about the pace of economic activity and growth projected in the second half of the year.”
“Household finances are in good shape and an impetus for strong spending heading into the holiday season, though households will spend more cautiously,” he said.
Consumers in all income groups plan to spend more than last year, but those in the highest and lowest brackets are expected to increase their spending the most, the Deloitte survey found. Shoppers who make $50,000 or less per year plan to spend $422 over the weekend, up 22% from last year, while those who earn $200,000 or more are expected to spend $1,257, up 20% from last year, according to the survey.
Spending is expected to be highest among millennials, who are also more likely than other age groups to buy gifts for themselves. They will spend around $750, according to the survey, while baby boomers will spend about $485.
Commerce’s Citadel Outlets was bustling Friday morning, with many families saying they’d been scouring the massive shopping center for hours scouting for deals.
Shoppers rest after being out for 12 hours overnight during Black Friday at the Citadel Outlets in Commerce.
(William Liang / For The Times)
“Honestly, you’ve got to come in with the mentality: It’s Black Friday,” said Gus Aguirre, a Simi Valley barber, who said his family never misses the biggest shopping day of the year. “It’s going to be busy, there are going to be lines, and people are going to be frustrated.”
He said the family tradition is more of a way to work off last night’s meal than get the best deals, which he says don’t feel all that special compared with what’s offered online.
“I feel like everybody started earlier in terms of releasing deals,” Aguirre said. “Last year was a little bit more hectic.”
By 9 a.m., he’s walked almost two miles — 5,830 steps, according to his partner’s tracker — and had the shopping bags full of Christmas gifts to show for it. He said business at his barbershop this year has been better than last, and he’s feeling less pressure to save.
Griselda Maldonado, meanwhile, came to the outlet with a hard spending cap. She and her 14-year-old daughter, Valentina, were going to stay until they spent $300.
They hit it quickly, she said, with the deals proving more lackluster than the family had hoped. Maldonado got some cosmetics and her daughter a jean skirt from Hollister. The 14-year-old said she’d been hoping for Samba shoes from Adidas, but they’d sold out by 6 a.m., when they arrived.
“We’re done,” Maldonado said. “There’s no extra money. This is it.”
Monique Carver and Gilbert McDonald said they were also feeling overwhelmed by the prices, but determined to get through some of their Christmas list — especially tiny Ugg boots for their baby granddaughter. They suspected they could get the same sort of deals during other times of the year, but shopping in person on Black Friday felt “festive.”
“I like hands-on shopping,” McDonald said. “The sales are all right.”
Big-box retailers prepare for months for the day after Thanksgiving, which for many marks the start of the holiday shopping season and serves as an indicator of consumer confidence.
High hopes about the economy, an increase in e-commerce activity and significant Black Friday participation among Gen Z and millennials will contribute to record spending this year, said Summer Taylor, a retail managing director at Deloitte. Shoppers will also have a strong focus on value, she said, and many will prioritize saving money over brand loyalty.
Rachel Stankus, right, and her mom Jane Codd shop in the Disney Outlet store on Black Friday at the Citadel Outlets in Commerce.
(William Liang / For The Times)
To prepare, major retailers have lined up discounts and offered early sales in the days leading up to Thanksgiving. Walmart unveiled online deals starting Nov. 25, including $250 off a Dyson vacuum and $600 off a Sony television. Target announced discounts beginning Nov. 21, offering 50% off a variety of items including holiday decor, toys and appliances.
Consumers nationwide will spend 56% of their holiday budget between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Deloitte found. Many start spending sooner.
“For the last 10 years or more, Black Friday sales have started creeping in earlier and earlier,” said Lars Perner, a professor of clinical marketing at the USC Marshall School of Business. “It becomes an arms race to offer the big sales sooner,” he said.
Early spending may drive future spending, Perner said, which could bolster retailers trying to unload holiday-themed goods before the end of the season.
“The economy is, to a very large extent, driven by psychology,” Perner said. “When consumers do spend, that tends to spur on the economy.”
Target reported underwhelming third-quarter results this month and lowered its fourth-quarter outlook, while Walmart posted strong sales and a 27% increase in e-commerce.
“Saving money remains a top priority for our customers,” Walmart said in a statement provided to The Times. “We think we’re in a strong position to serve our customers throughout the holiday season.”
Retailers have to walk a fine line between attracting customers with discounts and maintaining healthy margins, said George Noceti, a wealth advisor at Morgan Stanley. Consumers are wary of high prices amid inflation and will shop around to seek out discounts, he said. The Deloitte survey found that 45% of shoppers reported experiencing higher prices for holiday gifts this season.
“The retailers know that they have to promote and discount,” Noceti said. “Those that do will benefit the most by having greater sales, but if they promote and discount too much, they’re going to have lower profitability.”
Crowds of people shop for Black Friday deals at the Citadel Outlets in Commerce.
(William Liang / For The Times)
Noceti said he expects Black Friday sales to be on par with or slightly above last year’s numbers. Despite data from Deloitte that show Angelenos are more optimistic about the economy than last year, the average American consumer is still operating cautiously, he said. Shoppers may be hesitant to spend because of high prices of everyday goods such as groceries and may feel unsure about the economy amid global conflict and the recent election.
“California is different from the rest of the nation,” Noceti said. “Consumer confidence isn’t sky high, and people won’t spend their whole wallet on Black Friday.”
Consumers will split their spending evenly between in-person and online purchases, according to the Deloitte survey, but online shopping is growing at a faster rate. Whereas Black Friday foot traffic is expected to remain flat year over year, online spending could rise up to 15%.
The National Retail Federation also expects online sales to climb, saying in its holiday sales report that online and other non-store sales are expected to increase between 8% and 9%.
Online-only merchants are expected to be a popular destination this Black Friday weekend, with 69% of Deloitte survey respondents planning to stay home to shop at online-only retailers. Shoppers will spend an average of $195 on online purchases through Cyber Monday.
Retailers are relying more and more on so-called omnichannel shopping, which allows customers to browse products across in-person and online platforms.
“We aim to engage our customer where they are with an omnichannel strategy that puts product storytelling at the forefront across digital, social and in store,” Gap Chief Marketing Officer Faby Torres said.
Gap’s online platform offers customers Black Friday deals of 50% off sitewide, with some exclusions.
“Black Friday and Cyber Monday are all about value,” said Stephen Rogers, a managing director at Deloitte. “This year, all income levels and age groups are looking for deals. Consumers are relying on this week to stretch their dollars.”
Nike is cutting about 1,400 jobs in its operations division, mostly from its technology department, the company said Thursday.
In a note to employees, Venkatesh Alagirisamy, the chief operating officer of Nike, said that management was nearly done reorganizing the business for its turnaround plan, and that the goal was to operate with “more speed, simplicity and precision.”
“This is not a new direction,” Mr. Alagirisamy told employees. “It is the next phase of the work already underway.”
Nike, the world’s largest sportswear company, is trying to recover after missteps led to a prolonged sales slump, in which the brand leaned into lifestyle products and away from performance shoes and apparel. Elliott Hill, the chief executive, has worked to realign the company around sports and speed up product development to create more breakthrough innovations.
In March, Nike told investors that it expected sales to fall this year, with growth in North America offset by poor performance in Asia, where the brand is struggling to rejuvenate sales in China. Executives said at the time that more volatility brought on by the war in the Middle East and rising oil prices might continue to affect its business.
The reorganization has involved cuts across many parts of the organization, including at its headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. Nike slashed some corporate staff last year and eliminated nearly 800 jobs at distribution centers in January.
“You never want to have to go through any sort of layoffs, but to re-center the company, we’re doing some of that,” Mr. Hill said in an interview earlier this year.
Mr. Alagirisamy told employees that Nike was reshaping its technology team and centering employees at its headquarters and a tech center in Bengaluru, India. The layoffs will affect workers across North America, Europe and Asia.
The cuts will also affect staffing in Nike’s factories for Air, the company’s proprietary cushioning system. Employees who work on the supply chain for raw materials will also experience changes as staff is integrated into footwear and apparel teams.
Nike’s Converse brand, which has struggled for years to revive sales, will move some of its engineering resources closer to the factories they support, the company said.
Mr. Alagirisamy said the moves were necessary to optimize Nike’s supply chain, deploy technology faster and bolster relationships with suppliers.
A bill that would have required insurers to offer coverage to homeowners who take steps to reduce wildfire risk on their property died in the Legislature.
The Senate Insurance Committee on Monday voted down the measure, SB 1076, one of the most ambitious bills spurred by the devastating January 2025 wildfires.
The vote came despite fire victims and others rallying at the state Capitol in support of the measure, authored by state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena), whose district includes the Eaton fire zone.
The Insurance Coverage for Fire-Safe Homes Act originally would have required insurers to offer and renew coverage for any home that meets wildfire-safety standards adopted by the insurance commissioner starting Jan. 1, 2028.
It also threatened insurers with a five-year ban from the sale of home or auto insurance if they did not comply, though it allowed for exceptions.
However, faced with strong opposition from the insurance industry, Pérez had agreed to amend the bill so it would have established community-wide pilot projects across the state to better understand the most effective way to limit property and insurance losses from wildfires.
Insurers would have had to offer four years of coverage to homeowners in successful pilot projects.
Denni Ritter, a vice president of the American Property Casualty Insurance Assn., told the committee that her trade group opposed the bill.
“While we appreciate the intent behind those conversations, those concepts do not remove our opposition, because they retain the same core flaw — substituting underwriting judgment and solvency safeguards with a statutory mandate to accept risk,” she said.
In voting against the bill Sen. Laura Richardson, (D-San Pedro), said: “Last I heard, in the United States, we don’t require any company to do anything. That’s the difference between capitalism and communism, frankly.”
The remarks against the measure prompted committee Chair Sen. Steve Padilla, (D-Chula Vista), to chastise committee members in opposition.
“I’m a little perturbed, and I’m a little disappointed, because you have someone who is trying to work with industry, who is trying to get facts and data,” he said.
Monday’s vote was the fourth time a bill that would have required insurers to offer coverage to so-called “fire hardened” homes failed in the Legislature since 2020, according to an analysis by insurance committee staff.
Fire hardening includes measures such as cutting back brush, installing fire resistant roofs and closing eaves to resist fire embers.
Pérez’s legislation was thought to have a better chance of passage because it followed the most catastrophic wildfires in U.S. history, which damaged or destroyed more than 18,000 structures and killed 31 people.
The bill was co-sponsored by the Los Angeles advocacy group Consumer Watchdog and Every Fire Survivor’s Network, a community group founded in Altadena after the fires formerly called the Eaton Fire Survivors Network.
But it also had broad support from groups such as the California Apartment Association, the California Nurses Association and California Environmental Voters.
Leading up to the fires, many insurers, citing heightened fire risk, had dropped policyholders in fire-prone neighorhoods. That forced them onto the California FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort, which offers limited but costly policies.
A Times analysis found that that in the Palisades and Eaton fire zones, the FAIR Plan’s rolls from 2020 to 2024 nearly doubled from 14,272 to 28,440. Mandating coverage has been seen as a way of reducing FAIR Plan enrollment.
“I’m disappointed this bill died in committee. Fire survivors deserved better,” Pérez said in a statement .
Also failing Monday in the committee was SB 982, a bill authored by Sen. Scott Wiener, (D-San Francisco). It would have authorized California’s attorney general to sue fossil fuel companies to recover losses from climate-induced disasters. It was opposed by the oil and gas industry.
Passing the committee were two other Pérez bills. SB 877 requires insurers to provide more transparency in the claims process. SB 878 imposes a penalty on insurers who don’t make claims payments on time.
Another bill, SB 1301, authored by insurance commissioner candidate Sen. Ben Allen, (D-Pacific Palisades), also passed. It protects policyholders from unexplained and abrupt policy non-renewals.
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Politicians in Washington and the reporters who cover them have an often adversarial relationship.
But on the last Saturday in April, they gather for an irreverent celebration of press freedom and the First Amendment at the Washington Hilton Hotel: The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner.
Hosted by the association, an organization that helps ensure access for media outlets covering the presidency, the dinner attracts Hollywood stars; politicians from both parties; and representatives of more than 100 networks, newspapers, magazines and wire services.
While The Times will have two reporters in the ballroom covering the event, the company no longer buys seats at the party, said Richard W. Stevenson, the Washington bureau chief. The decision goes back almost two decades; the last dinner The Times attended as an organization was in 2007.
“We made a judgment back then that the event had become too celebrity-focused and was undercutting our need to demonstrate to readers that we always seek to maintain a proper distance from the people we cover, many of whom attend as guests,” he said.
It’s a decision, he added, that “we have stuck by through both Republican and Democratic administrations, although we support the work of the White House Correspondents’ Association.”
Susan Wessling, The Times’s Standards editor, said the policy is a product of the organization’s desire to maintain editorial independence.
“We don’t want to leave readers with any questions about our independence and credibility by seeming to be overly friendly with people whose words and actions we need to report on,” she said.
The celebrity mentalist Oz Pearlman is headlining the evening, in lieu of the usual comedy set by the likes of Stephen Colbert and Hasan Minhaj, but all eyes will be on President Trump, who will make his first appearance at the dinner as president.
Mr. Trump has boycotted the event since 2011, when he was the butt of punchlines delivered by President Barack Obama and the talk show host Seth Meyers mocking his hair, his reality TV show and his preoccupation with the “birther” movement.
Last month, though, Mr. Trump, who has a contentious relationship with the media, announced his intention to attend this year’s dinner, where he will speak to a room full of the same reporters he often derides as “enemies of the people.”
Times reporters will be there to document the highs, the lows and the reactions in the room. A reporter for the Styles desk has also been assigned to cover the robust roster of after-parties around Washington.
Some off-duty reporters from The Times will also be present at this late-night circuit, though everyone remains cognizant of their roles, said Patrick Healy, The Times’s assistant managing editor for Standards and Trust.
“If they’re reporting, there’s a notebook or recorder out as usual,” he said. “If they’re not, they’re pros who know they’re always identifiable as Times journalists.”
For most of The Times’s reporters and editors, though, the evening will be experienced from home.
“The rest of us will be able to follow the coverage,” Mr. Stevenson said, “without having to don our tuxes or gowns.”
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