On-site purchases of U.S. 'Black Friday' drop..."Pre-tariff Purchase Marketing"

Although fewer shoppers visited stores during discount events in the U.S., many Americans still consider it a tradition to visit shopping malls on Black Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Retail industry trend analyst Retail Next said last year that the number of shoppers visiting brick-and-mortar stores in the U.S. on Black Friday was 27% lower than the number of visitors in 2017.

As retailers work more on online discount events than offline ones, they seem to have no need to rely on Thanksgiving holiday segments as in the past to shake off inventory ahead of the year-end settlement.

However, consumers are now embracing Black Friday shopping as a traditional family event with memories, the Wall Street Journal said.

In the meantime, retailers are also using tariffs for marketing, saying that if Trump detonates a tariff bomb this year, prices will rise and you can't buy things at the current price.