Shoppers return for 'Black Friday,' but many have already bought

Americans returned to stores for the "Black Friday" kick-off of the holiday shopping season, but online data shows that consumers have been spending big for weeks amid worries over shortages.

The day after the US Thanksgiving celebration is the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, and normally sees Americans line up outside stores before they open to clinch deals on popular items.

After the pandemic kept crowds away last year, many shoppers were out in force last Friday, a sign of how COVID-19 vaccines have returned life in the United States to something closer to normal.

"I just wanted to make sure that this Christmas was a good Christmas for all my friends and family," said a masked Sylvia Gonzalez as she waited in line outside the jewelry chain Pandora in New York.

But even before retailers opened their doors on Friday morning, e-commerce shoppers in the United States had already spent US$76 billion since early November, up more than 20 percent from the year-ago period, according to data from software company Adobe, which has projected somewhat fewer promotions this year in light of rising costs.

The jump has added to companies' optimism about the season, suggesting some shoppers heeded calls from businesses to purchase items early this year after port backlogs and other logistics problems sparked worries that popular goods would be in short supply.

Toys led the buying spree, with Adobe pointing to actions by "anxious parents increasingly aware of supply chain challenges."

The National Retail Federation projects overall spending could rise as much as 10.5 percent to US$859 billion. Nonetheless, out-of-stock listings online are up 261 percent compared with two years ago, according to Adobe.

Retailers and market watchers are broadly optimistic about the holiday shopping season in light of low unemployment and relatively strong household finances due in part to government pandemic stimulus bills.

Countering those positive trends are lingering supply chain problems, spiking prices that have affected household staples such as food and fuel, and the COVID-19 pandemic, which is still far from over.

On last Friday, stock markets worldwide tumbled on worries that the latest strain of the virus found in South Africa could derail the global recovery.

Reminders of the pandemic were visible throughout shopping districts in the New York borough of Manhattan.

Signs at Macy's reminded customers to keep 2 meters apart and pop-up COVID-19 testing sites were positioned outside stores.