Retailers unveiled a trove of fresh seasonal promotions, as they try to coax sales from reticent shoppers whose holiday cheer has been tempered by inflation and worries over a softening economy.
"Black Friday," the unofficial start of the US holiday shopping season, announced itself with the annual day-after-Thanksgiving deluge of online promotions and early store openings.
"Supply shortages was yesterday's problem," said Neil Saunders, managing director for GlobalData Retail, a consultancy."Today's problem is having too much stuff." Higher costs for gasoline and household staples like meat and cereal are a nationwide issue, and they do not burden everyone equally. "Retailers are desperate for some spending cheer but the worry is that it could turn out to be more of a Bleak Friday," said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.
But that cushion is starting to whittle away. After hitting $2.5 trillion in excess savings in mid-2021, the benchmark fell to $1.7 trillion in the second quarter, according to Moody's.
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