Kohl's LA Is Desolate on Black Friday After Starting Deals Early
Retail stores are feeling the heat as many shoppers plan to do most of their holiday shopping online. Alyssa Julya Smith ventured out to Kohl's in Los Angeles on Black Friday to check out what's going on in retail outlets. She found that, at least in the morning, not a lot of shoppers turned out for the doorbusters and in-store deals.
In fact, 59 percent of U.S. shoppers say they plan to shop online this year instead of fighting crowds at the stores. U.S. shoppers spent more than $1.52 billion online by 5 pm ET on Thanksgiving evening, which is up nearly 17 percent from a year ago.
A lot of the slowdown in Black Friday shopping has to do with the "Amazon effect," which also has a lot of brick-and-mortar stores fighting to keep up. Big stores like Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Kohls made their big deals available online, and well before Thanksgiving day, so many people are opting to shop from the comfort of their own home.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said Thursday that the majority of iPhones sold in the U.S. in the current fiscal quarter will be sourced from India, while iPads and other devices will come from Vietnam as the company works to avoid the impact of President Trump’s tariffs on its business. Apple’s earnings for the first three months of the year topped Wall Street’s expectations thanks to high demand for its iPhones, and the company said tariffs had a limited effect on the fiscal second quarter’s results. Cook added that for the current quarter, assuming things don’t change, Apple expects to see $900 million added to its costs as a result of the tariffs.