Black Friday to be the biggest one ever

According to the Los Angeles Times, retailers nationwide expect about 152 million people to stream through their doors before the holiday weekend is over. That is the highest estimate the National Retail Federation has seen in the roughly 10 years it has been polling potential holiday shoppers about their post-Thanksgiving-dinner plans, said representative Kathy Grannis.

That could set the stage for another record as well, with Black Friday possibly the biggest shopping day of 2011. Most people think Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year. However, “thanks to a world full of procrastinators,” the Saturday before Christmas often beats it out, she said. It is too soon to say whether this projected rush indicates an uptick in the economy, or consumers‘ flat-out need for a sale, Grannis said.

Not everyone agrees with this assessment. Accenture, a global management consulting company, says its survey suggests the important of Black Friday is waning because of the rise of smart phones and other consumer-friendly devices that can be used for shopping. That could mean fewer folks slapping down the plastic on Black Friday. Only time will tell who is right.

Despite the bad news though, economists agree that stores on black Friday will definitely be packed to capacity.

(아주경제 앤드류 이 기자)

Park Sae-jin swatchsjp@ajunews.com