Thanksgiving Day online sales thrive as bargain hunters shop from home

[Shawn Knight]

Retailers for decades have lured Black Friday shoppers in with limited-quantity, doorbuster deals. That model remains in place today although increased competition from e-commerce giants like Amazon and Wayfair have forced many brick and mortar stores to open their doors a day early on Thanksgiving.

Online-only retailers are adapting as well. In addition to further slashing prices, many online merchants now offer perks like free shipping and price matching on top of the added convenience of being able to shop in the comfort and privacy of your home.

Based on early data, the collective efforts of online retailers appear to be paying dividends.

Adobe Digital Insights reports that Thanksgiving Day online sales hit $1.93 billion, an 11.5 percent increase year-over-year. Black Friday online sales through 8:30 a.m.ET checked in at $490 million while total online sales from November 1 through November 25 at 8:30 a.m. ET sit at $29.09 billion.

The firm notes that 23 out of 24 full days this month have exceeded $1 billion in online sales.

Target CEO Brian Cornell told Reuters that they saw one of their strongest days ever online, adding that online sales grew by double digits. Craig Johnson, president at retail consultancy agency Customer Growth Partners, told the publication that initial reports show it's not very busy at brick and mortar stores around the country.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/67183-thanksgiving-day-online-sales-thrive-bargain-hunters-shop.html

 

[Bigtruckseries]

I bought a Playstation 3 from Walmart, a $400 snowblower from Sears, and 12 Drawer Tool Chest (Sears) and a 60" 4K Samsung TV to replace my 50" 1080p Vizio.

The malls were dead. Mostly people just walking around aimlessly. I walked into the stores at 10AM and got exactly what I came for.

stuffed everything in my Jeep SRT.

 

[texasrattler]

I bought a Playstation 3 from Walmart, a $400 snowblower from Sears, and 12 Drawer Tool Chest (Sears) and a 60" 4K Samsung TV to replace my 50" 1080p Vizio.

The malls were dead. Mostly people just walking around aimlessly. I walked into the stores at 10AM and got exactly what I came for.

stuffed everything in my Jeep SRT.

Does anyone even still go to Sears? They have been dying for awhile. Their electronics have turned into a joke. All they have is washers, dryers and Craftsman that will one day not renew the contract. One day Craftsman will end up being in Lowes or Home Depot stores, it's just a matter of time.

Your either in a dead end city or one run down mall that no one wants to go to.

 

[Bigtruckseries]

Does anyone even still go to Sears? They have been dying for awhile. Their electronics have turned into a joke. All they have is washers, dryers and Craftsman that will one day not renew the contract. One day Craftsman will end up being in Lowes or Home Depot stores, it's just a matter of time.

Your either in a dead end city or one run down mall that no one wants to go to.

Sears has been around in the same time Alexanders, Caldor and Kmart have come and went. They are directly in competition with Best Buy, Walmart, Lowes and a few others.

What's kept them alive is their warranty service on appliances and their tools. No one else sells the stuff they sell and many items they have - many people don't feel comfortable buying online or at Costco/BJ's, etc.

Sears has contracts on my 80", my 60", my 32", my 50", my washer, my dryer, and some aspects of my house including the pump for my Jacuzzi and my garage door...

Yes I have called for maintenance/service...and yes they have been faithful.

 

[cuerdc]

PS4 and firesticks not much else looked any good

 

[texasrattler]

Sears has been around in the same time Alexanders, Caldor and Kmart have come and went. They are directly in competition with Best Buy, Walmart, Lowes and a few others.

What's kept them alive is their warranty service on appliances and their tools. No one else sells the stuff they sell and many items they have - many people don't feel comfortable buying online or at Costco/BJ's, etc.

Sears has contracts on my 80", my 60", my 32", my 50", my washer, my dryer, and some aspects of my house including the pump for my Jacuzzi and my garage door...

Yes I have called for maintenance/service...and yes they have been faithful.

Sears hasn't been in competition with anyone in years. You may have things from them but I can guarantee you are in the minority today. Most things come from Amazon, Walmart and Best Buy. Like them or hate them, these are the big companies today. Sears is all but forgotten. Again if it wasn't for them selling Washers n Dryers(pure commission based so you know they have ppl who lie for a living to get a sale) and the Craftsman deal, no one would even care about Sears.

Warranty service is a joke from Sears and it has been for a long time. Even Best Buy gets flak for their service but at least they have improved on theirs over the past few years.

Lowes and Home Depot are only competition cause they all sell washers n dryers and tools. But honestly most buy from Lowes and HD not because of better service but they either match or beat them on most products.

Sears have also come and went. Would likely have been more relevant if they stayed with the times. Buying Kmart, *****ic and not price matching Amazon in the early days when Amazon was beating everyone was a huge mistake on their part. Best Buy were smart enough if you can't beat them, join them. They offered price matching years before Sears would do it for online stores.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

I'm fighting the temptation to buy a 4k monitor for my desktop PC. Sure it would be nice but do I need it? Must resist! But it's so cheap right now...can't resist....!!!!!!!!

Even if I didn't watch all that many 4k movies I would have a much bigger desktop space to work with.

EDIT: I futzed around long enough for one sale to end so looks like it may be another year for me before I go 4K. They will probably be cheaper next year anyway if that's possible. I might also be dead too. So, it's a fun thing not knowing really.

 

[Bigtruckseries]

Sears have also come and went. Would likely have been more relevant if they stayed with the times. Buying Kmart, *****ic and not price matching Amazon in the early days when Amazon was beating everyone was a huge mistake on their part. Best Buy were smart enough if you can't beat them, join them. They offered price matching years before Sears would do it for online stores.

Despite all that stuff you typed, they are still there - in fact, I'm going there right now to look for a wall oven.

 

[texasrattler]

Despite all that stuff you typed, they are still there - in fact, I'm going there right now to look for a wall oven.

Just cause they are there don't mean ppl actually go. Same thing happened the Circuit City. Sears is a dying company because they didn't change with the times, they have been playing catch up for years.
Also selling one or 2 products as a company will not keep you alive, that's all Sears has now. They just don't offer anything good anymore and their prices aren't the best.

 

[texasrattler]

I'm fighting the temptation to buy a 4k monitor for my desktop PC. Sure it would be nice but do I need it? Must resist! But it's so cheap right now...can't resist....!!!!!!!!

Even if I didn't watch all that many 4k movies I would have a much bigger desktop space to work with.

EDIT: I futzed around long enough for one sale to end so looks like it may be another year for me before I go 4K. They will probably be cheaper next year anyway if that's possible. I might also be dead too. So, it's a fun thing not knowing really.

That's why you shoulda just got one and enjoyed it. Second guessing yourself, now your back to looking at the plain monitor when you good of had a awesome time with your new 4K monitor that you wanted. Sales will still come, usually a week or 2 before Christmas.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

That's why you shoulda just got one and enjoyed it. Second guessing yourself, now your back to looking at the plain monitor when you good of had a awesome time with your new 4K monitor that you wanted. Sales will still come, usually a week or 2 before Christmas.

I think I'm just angry at myself for missing the sale. I can live without a 4K monitor but my chance to stick it to the manufacturer is now gone and that is the upsetting part. Now they want to stick it to me if I purchase one off sale.
I'm not gonna lie, a 3840x2560 desktop resolution would be nice...at least I think it would...not sure how the hell I would actually know since I've never used one. I never sat around and thought about increasing my monitor sizes and resolutions in the past. I pretty much just did it. But I'm getting to the point where I think about it more for some reason.

I read an interesting article one time about "The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug"? in 4K. There is this argument that (in movies anyway) seeing all the microscopic details took away from the fantasy of the film. You could see "cheapness" in the movie sets and what not. So, I always keep that in mind also. Of course, that was a fantasy movie.

After Googling for the article I read it seems it may not be the resolution that killed the fantasy as much as they blame it on the 48fps version of the movie. So, I remain confused. But the point is that more may not "always" be better.

If it goes on sale for the same price again then I'll seriously consider it again.

 

[captaincranky]

...[ ]....I read an interesting article one time about "The Hobbit Desolation of Smaug"? in 4K. There is this argument that (in movies anyway) seeing all the microscopic details took away from the fantasy of the film. You could see "cheapness" in the movie sets and what not. So, I always keep that in mind also. Of course, that was a fantasy movie.

Keep in mind also, that in 4K , you'll be able to see every hair follicle and razor pimple on that dewy eyed little nymph, that you thought was absolutely perfect in 1080p.

I grabbed an off brand 1440p monitor a couple of weeks back, and I have mixed feelings about it. If I'm being lazy. I'll stuff a DVD in the computer it's connected with, and lo and behold, I think the upscaling is a bit too extreme, and a standard 480i DVD might look better on a 1080p. (Which is only a bit more than a 2x up res.

Window's windows, are razor sharp @1440p, and I think I'm going tro enjoy the monitor for high res photos, more so than video sources. I'm not a gamer, so I can't comment at all about that aspect of the whole mess.

I will say, for a while, every time I walked in Best Buy, it seemed they had a 50" 4K TV playing a shot of a meadow. It's always great. You can count every blade of grass, and see every flower petal. And after all, isn't that what life is all about, watching grass grow on a $1000.00 TV.

After Googling for the article I read it seems it may not be the resolution that killed the fantasy as much as they blame it on the 48fps version of the movie. So, I remain confused. But the point is that more may not "always" be better.

Oddly, we survived for decades at 29.97FPS interlaced, without a hint of flicker. So, 48fps, should be plenty, assuming the Blu-Ray player is capable of decoding it properly. IMHO, this rush to 4K is more about status, than any real advantage in source material, at least for the time being.

And Again IMHO, I think 1080p should be good up to about 40" to 46". After that, for these 70" screens, they could actually use 2K, or even 4K res. Resolution is all about screen size. Today's 1080p 16:9 aspect is a one size fits all solution, which doesn't take into account different imaging tasks which a monitor may be called into service to do.

Now, I simply don't see any point to having 4k res, under maybe 30" of screen size. Maybe I just have old eyes, who knows.

The last thing which comes to mind at way too little resolution for too much screen size, were those crappy 6' projection TVs, working with 480i broadcast source resolution. Man oh man, did they look like sh!t. I could never figure out why people were ever willing to foot the bill for one of thos clunkers. Hm...., unless it was to try and impress the neighbors..

 

[TheBigFatClown]

Keep in mind also, that in 4K , you'll be able to see every hair follicle and razor pimple on that dewy eyed little nymph, that you thought was absolutely perfect in 1080p.

I grabbed an off brand 1440p monitor a couple of weeks back, and I have mixed feelings about it. If I'm being lazy. I'll stuff a DVD in the computer it's connected with, and lo and behold, I think the upscaling is a bit too extreme, and a standard 480i DVD might look better on a 1080p. (Which is only a bit more than a 2x up res.

Window's windows, are razor sharp @1440p, and I think I'm going tro enjoy the monitor for high res photos, more so than video sources. I'm not a gamer, so I can't comment at all about that aspect of the whole mess.

I will say, for a while, every time I walked in Best Buy, it seemed they had a 50" 4K TV playing a shot of a meadow. It's always great. You can count every blade of grass, and see every flower petal. And after all, isn't that what life is all about, watching grass grow on a $1000.00 TV.

Oddly, we survived for decades at 29.97FPS interlaced, without a hint of flicker. So, 48fps, should be plenty, assuming the Blu-Ray player is capable of decoding it properly. IMHO, this rush to 4K is more about status, than any real advantage in source material, at least for the time being.

And Again IMHO, I think 1080p should be good up to about 40" to 46". After that, for these 70" screens, they could actually use 2K, or even 4K res. Resolution is all about screen size. Today's 1080p 16:9 aspect is a one size fits all solution, which doesn't take into account different imaging tasks which a monitor may be called into service to do.

Now, I simply don't see any point to having 4k res, under maybe 30" of screen size. Maybe I just have old eyes, who knows.

The last thing which comes to mind at way too little resolution for too much screen size, were those crappy 6' projection TVs, working with 480i broadcast source resolution. Man oh man, did they look like sh!t. I could never figure out why people were ever willing to foot the bill for one of thos clunkers. Hm...., unless it was to try and impress the neighbors..

I think I agree with a lot of what you are saying. Technology has evolved at amazing speeds over the past few years. In the past, I can remember being "wowed" by my computer upgrades. So, I have to ask my self the same question over and over. When good enough is good enough what's the point of buying something that is better, bigger, faster.
If I were looking at my monitor screen all the time and complaining that it was too small so I'm going to buy a bigger one then it would make more sense to me.
The most compelling reason that I have been contemplating the purchase of a 4K monitor/television this "holiday" season is simply because they are SO DAMN CHEAP right now. Not because I really need one or necessarily want one. My thoughts are "My God, a 40-inch Samsung 4k television on sale today only for less than $300.00? Buy that you silly bastard before it's too late and you end up hating yourself for missing the sale!!! I won't be thought of as a fool dammit. BUY!". LoL.

I bought a 32-inch Samsung HD (1920x1080p) television 2 years ago because it was a good buy and it sits to my right on a tv-cabinet in the original unopened box. I was not going to miss that good buy dammit!

I need help. Luckily, I've resisted this years Samsung 40" 4K television sales at less than $300.00 twice now. But I don't know how much longer I can hold out. They just won't go away. And if they ever did I would probably just hate myself.

 

[captaincranky]

I My thoughts are "My God, a 40-inch Samsung 4k television on sale today only for less than $300.00? Buy that you silly bastard before it's too late and you end up hating yourself for missing the sale!!! I won't be thought of as a fool dammit. BUY!". LoL.

Well, I have to admit, that would have exerted a lunar pull on me as well!

I was thinking of this post the other night as I was was watching the, "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show". If there ever was a reason for 4K resolution, that had to be it. Damn the hair follicles, flimsy panties ahead...!

Those costumes just have so, so many tiny details, the advantages of 4K would be hard to ignore. Well, if it was actually transmitted in 4K that is..

I need help. Luckily, I've resisted this years Samsung 40" 4K television sales at less than $300.00 twice now. But I don't know how much longer I can hold out. They just won't go away. And if they ever did I would probably just hate myself.

Oh well, a little self loathing is good for a person. It tends to keep their ego in check. Hm, unless they over compensate, that is...

 

[TheBigFatClown]

Well, I have to admit, that would have exerted a lunar pull on me as well!

I was thinking of this post the other night as I was was watching the, "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show". If there ever was a reason for 4K resolution, that had to be it. Damn the hair follicles, flimsy panties ahead...!

Those costumes just have so, so many tiny details, the advantages of 4K would be hard to ignore. Well, if it was actually transmitted in 4K that is..

Oh well, a little self loathing is good for a person. It tends to keep their ego in check. Hm, unless they over compensate, that is...

My upgrade to 4K is virtually inevitable but it needs to be justified. I just hope it comes by way of my current monitors exploding via manufacturer defect or thunderous acts of God and not entirely through lust of the eyes or flash sales. On this 24" Samsung monitor there is exactly 1 dead pixel. So the quality of Samsung's products is bitter sweet for me right now. I have an older Samsung 22" monitor still kicking after probably 4 years now and it has no dead pixels.

Oh God, wait a minute...Samsungs Galaxy Note 7 did exactly what I'm talking about. I'd better be very careful about what I wish for.

Me screaming at my monitors. "Die already damn it! DIE!" "Die so I can BUY!".