Black Friday sales launch holiday season as shoppers squeezed by inflation

Black Friday tag and mannequin.
(Image credit: Kena Betancur/Getty Images)

The holiday shopping season kicks off unofficially with Black Friday, but post-Thanksgiving crowds are expected to be watching every dollar this year as continued high inflation threatens their buying power.

The National Retail Federation projects holiday sales to grow 6 percent to 8 percent, down from a strong 13.5 percent last year and possibly marking a decline after adjusting for inflation. Recent data has shown that Americans are increasingly holding out for big discounts, or replacing luxury goods with less expensive alternatives. Shoppers also are more likely to choose "buy now, pay later" options this year and pay in installments, according to The Associated Press.

Analysts typically watch Black Friday weekend, which also includes Cyber Monday, as a "key barometer" of consumers' "willingness to spend," AP notes. The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas constitutes roughly 20 percent of the retail industry's annual sales.

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Meanwhile, in quite the contrast, thousands of Amazon warehouse workers are striking and walking out of their jobs on Friday as part of a larger "Make Amazon Pay" campaign. Demonstrations are planned in more than 30 countries, including the U.S., India, Japan, and multiple in Europe, per The Hill.

"We are workers and citizens divided by geography and our role in the global economy but united in our commitment to Make Amazon Pay fair wages, its taxes, and for its impact on the planet," the campaign website states.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.