實體店黑色星期五今年徹底黃了麼

原創：顰兒翻譯

首發日：2020年11月24日

首發於顰兒說英語公眾號

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篇首語：

自2020年10月19日，每周帶您讀五篇外刊，今天是第25篇。

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Black Friday isn’t canceled this year, just the shoving, tempers and riots

By NANCY DILLON

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |NOV 20, 2020 AT 11:44 AM

For most of the last decade, Emmanuel Merced has treated Black Friday like an elite sport, camping outside stores with his brother to snag premium electronics at insanely low door-buster prices.

He lined up early outside the Best Buy on Lexington Ave. and 86th St. last year in the bitter cold and even made national news doing so in 2011.

This year, the East Harlem man is staying home.

「No deal is worth catching the virus,」 Merced, 36 told the Daily News.

「It was always a fun thing to do. The holidays come around, and you want to see what you can get for your family. But I can’t put anybody I love at risk,」 he explained. 「Better safe than sorry.」

He said the crowds, camaraderie and circus-like atmosphere were always part of the fun – and they’re off the table this Thanksgiving weekend.

「I』ll definitely miss it,」 he said, wistfully. 「If there’s a (coronavirus) cure and everything, hopefully we』ll be out there again next year.」

A shopper leaves Macy's department store with bags in both hands on Black Friday, Nov. 29, 2019. (Bebeto Matthews/AP)

But even though the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade are closed to live spectators this year and Santa visits have gone contactless, Black Friday is far from canceled.

It’s getting staggered and spread-out like never before, with almost all the best deals served up online, experts said.

「This is the first time I can remember seeing real Black Friday savings hitting early. Not just stuff to build hype, but actual great deals,」 DealNews consumer analyst Julie Ramhold told The News.

As an example, she pointed to the TCL 55-inch 4K Roku Smart TV that Walmart started selling for $148 on Nov. 11 as part of its early Black Friday event. It sold out fast and now goes for around $279 elsewhere.

Many of Walmart’s best deals are being advertised as 「online only」 this year. Others were set to kick off online at least two days ahead of showing up in brick-and-mortar stores.

「This year more than ever, there’s no reason to shop in stores to get a deal,」 Ramhold said.

Walmart along with Target, Best Buy and Kohl’s all announced early that they planned to remain closed on Thanksgiving Day because of the pandemic – a departure from last year.

「Black Friday isn’t just one day this year — it’s months long,」 Best Buy said when it started offering holiday deals last month.

The consumer electronics behemoth said 「nearly all」 of its Black Friday deals were due to be unlocked online by Nov. 22.

Kmart stores in the metro area were set to open at 9 a.m. Thanksgiving Day and close at 7 p.m., but the retailer started offering online Black Friday deals weeks ago.

Walmart said it would open stores at 5 a.m. on Black Friday, but it was adamant it won’t tolerate the types of stampedes that typically make headlines.

「Customers will form a single, straight line」 and face 「metering」 to limit in-store capacity, the company said. 「Health Ambassadors will be placed at entrances to greet customers and remind them to put on a mask.」

Experts said the exact when, where and how most people will end up doing the bulk of their holiday shopping remains a moving target this year as coronavirus infections continue to grow.

「Some of what happens could be contingent on where things are with community spread and cases」 in the coming days and weeks, Katherine Cullen, a senior director with the National Retail Federation told The News.

「We’re not putting out a forecast for the Thanksgiving weekend, like we usually do,」 she said. 「The situation is changing so quickly… We didn’t want to put out a number that would quickly feel irrelevant or irresponsible.」

Still, it’s clear many consumers did start shopping early, she said, pointing to a recent survey that found 60% of consumers said they』d already started their holiday buying by the first week of November, compared with 56% last year and 49% a decade ago.

Cullen said she’s 「cautiously optimistic」 the season will be strong overall.

「For the first 10 months of the year, retail sales were actually up 6%, and consumers are saying they have a lot of shopping left to do,」 she explained. 「We have seen a lot of resilience from consumers.」

Americans typically spend about 1/3 of their holiday budgets during the Black Friday weekend, Cullen said.

Last year, 189.6 million consumers shopped Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, she said.

A recent survey of 4,012 consumers conducted by Deloitte found that many will be spending their money differently and more cautiously for the holidays this year.

Shoppers plan to spend an average of $1,387 per household, down 7% from 2019, the survey found.

Nearly 51% of holiday shoppers reported feeling anxious about shopping in-store, Deloitte said.

As expected, money spent on holiday travel will plummet, with spending on social activities away from home expected to drop 34% year over year, the survey reported.

Spending on home-based celebrations is expected to pick up some of the slack and rise 12% to $435, Deloitte said.

「As travel spend declines, retailers will likely benefit, and should receive a higher percentage of total holiday spend,」 Rod Sides, a vice chairman at Deloitte, said.

And many experts agreed some shoppers simply won’t be deterred when it comes to shopping in person.

「I’m a realist. There’s a part of me that’s still expecting some absolutely bananas story about people shopping in stores. I fully expect there will be some kind of crazy Black Friday story,」 Ramhold said.

「So many people are so used totreating it like an epic, free-for-all event,」 she said.

顰兒筆記

什麼是 door buster ？

Door buster is a sales and marketing strategy that is sometimes employed with retail businesses. Essentially, it is a deal on some type of low-priced item that is anticipated to attract the attention of consumers, and draw them into the store. Once in the store, the customers can secure the discounted item and presumably look around the store for other items they may need or want.開門大搶購，商品在特定時間內減價出售，通常在早上到中午的這段時間。感恩節過後的星期五，所謂的Black Friday是美國一年當中商品最便宜的一天。「There will be great discounts all day long, but the best doorbuster deals will be in the early hours」 黑色星期五全天減價銷售，但最便宜的當屬早上開門大搶購的促銷商品。最近幾年，黑色星期五商店開門時間不斷提前。這套路跟咱們國內的雙十一活動很如出一轍。雙十一凌晨的搶購價格最低，雙十一全天大減價，但是我們更先進，我們是網購，他們是實體店銷售。不過如今，網絡發達，網購盛行，實體店搶購熱度有所減少，往年，簡直就是elite sport精英運動，大家都在店鋪外邊露營camping outside stores，連夜早早地排隊lined up early，寒風蕭蕭中 in the bitter cold，等著商鋪開門，好第一時間搶購到最便宜的商品，但現在人少了，都待在家裡了staying home。一是疫情，為了買個東西感染了病毒也太不值了No deal is worth catching the virus。二是，有時候辛辛苦苦排一夜，可能因為數量有限之類的，沒有搶購到心儀的商品，反而不如網購方便，網上的搶購售罄與否，一目了然，這個沒了，就換另一個，簡直不要太方便。

大搶購很有意思。假期到了，可以給親愛的家人買點東西。但是不能把我們愛的人置於危險之中。 謹言慎行不吃虧，輕率莽撞必後悔Better safe than sorry。今年開門大搶購off the table不予討論，不予考慮。

wistfully 渴望，不滿足地

大採購的時候，你有沒有雙手拎滿袋子with bags in both hands

Thanksgiving Day 感恩節

live spectator 現場觀眾

is far from 遠沒有

like never before 以前未曾有的、從未有過的、前所未有的

serve up 上菜（飯）、提供

今年黑五轉戰網絡。

This is the first time I can remember seeing 這是我第一次見到sth

hype 大肆宣傳

今年的黑五和咱們的雙十一一樣，不是一天的狂歡Black Friday isn’t just one day this year，而是早早啟動，有的可能持續一月之久 months long。

there’s no reason to沒有理由

As an example 比如

event 活動

sold out fast 一搶而空、很快售罄

11月11日，沃爾瑪就早早地開啟了黑五大減價，TCL55寸4k Roku 智能電視竟然售價148美元。該款機型，市場售價在279美元左右。

今年沃爾瑪很多折扣商品僅限網購。與比實體店brick-and-mortar store相比，網上促銷活動至少提前兩天。

今年不同於去年a departure from last year ，疫情當前，很多大商場感恩節也不營業。

市區的 in the metro area 凱馬特打算感恩節當天早上九點開門，晚上七點關門，但其網上促銷早就數周前就已經啟動。

stampedes 踩踏事件

make headlines 成為頭條新聞

at entrances 進口處

put on a mask 戴上口罩

the exact when, where and how 經典句型

be contingent on 取決於，視情況而定

like we usually do 像往常一樣，依慣例

The situation is changing so quickly 局勢變化太快

they have a lot of shopping left to do 還有很多東西要買

resilience 恢復

As expected 不出所料、正如預期

money spent on holiday travel = travel spend

plumment 暴跌

expected to drop 34% year over year 預期同比下降34%

shopper 顧客

realist 現實主義者

bananas = crazy -=nuts 瘋了、精神錯亂的

be so used to doing sth 太習慣於做某事了

free-for-all 可不是全場免費，大混戰、大作戰

epic 史詩般的

黑五部分實體店會開門營業，他們不會阻止顧客進店搶購，只是不希望發生踩踏事件。另外，不同於往年，很多店鋪提供了網絡促銷。為避免感染，相當一部分人傾向於在家網購，但是也有人覺得網購沒有黑五實體店大搶購的那種氣氛，而渴望親自參與黑五人擠人的盛況。