Will trade war affect Black Friday 2019?

Seems like this whole situation with the trade war between China and the United States has no end. Thus, both retailers and buyers are uncertain about what will happen during the upcoming shopping season, especially on Black Friday.

However, many believe that the discounts during this year Black Friday will be even bigger and there are reasons behind that.

Retailers made their stocks

Retailers are used to be super attentive to the economic state of the country as that will allow them to come up with the strategy that will allow influencing the customers’ demand. And the trade war is no exception to that.

The thing is that the retailers have been already expecting the prices for good to be increased as a result of the tariffs imposed. According to analysts from a trade association of the United States, many retailers bought inventory and goods in advance, way before the tariffs are expected to increase on December 15 this year. Therefore, it would be fair to assume that consumers won’t see dramatic price increases this holiday season. Moreover, we are unlikely to see price changes up until spring 2020 even if the tariff increase will be still imposed this December.

This can be supported by a sample by retails consumers’ experience who said that their sales and margins were locked this summer even after the introduced tariffs. That is of utmost importance, especially in times like that, for retailers to keep their customers’ trust.

Even though we can notice the trust of customers being shaken this November, the number is still strong. And if buyers will be not eager to kiss their dollars goodbye, the retailers will be the ones who would need to be flexible and most likely to go deeper into discounts. However, they are still waiting for a big signal before moving any further with their decisions.

Consumers will go shopping earlier this year

We could already notice how consumers tend to start the shopping craziness a bit earlier than the holiday shopping season actually starts, as retailers start running advertisements earlier as well. Some researches even showed that many consumers start shopping as early as September.

This, in turn, is a great benefit for retailers, as they can start pushing promotions earlier. Therefore, by just motivating consumers to make their purchases earlier, retailers won’t miss out on their sales and buyers won’t experience increased prices for goods this Black Friday.

Another factor that deserved attention is the fact that almost everyone now knows about what will happen on December 15 this year. Thus people will try to make their holiday purchases as soon as possible and Black Friday will be an amazing opportunity for them to do so.

Despite some economic hardships connected with the long-lasting trade war, this year Black Friday might actually prove to be a banner day for retailers and mark another record year for holiday season not only in the United States but worldwide.