Love Black Friday? You’re Not Alone

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It's not just big bargains that inspire Black Friday shoppers to rise before dawn to begin their holiday shopping. Some find that participating in the annual retail rite actually gets them in the holiday mood. New research has found that 74 percent of consumers say they find the Black Friday shopping experience somewhat to very satisfying, while just 15 percent find the prospect of shopping on Black Friday frightening.

Additionally, half of shoppers surveyed say that Black Friday and other holiday advertisements prepare them for the season and get them excited to shop for the holidays. To that end, nearly one-third of shoppers say they will be waiting for doors to open at retailers this Black Friday. An additional 56 percent expect to visit stores at some point on Black Friday, while 16 percent of shoppers say they will not shop at all on the day after Thanksgiving.

Consumers who do shop on Black Friday will be looking for deals above all else. Fifty-two percent of shoppers say that discount prices will be the most influential factors when they decide where to shop on Black Friday. Just 5 percent say that a store's decorations will make a shopper buy more.

Some shoppers, however, will skip the stores all together this holiday season. Twenty-eight percent of consumers say they will shop online during the holidays, while 10 percent expect to use smartphones or tablets to make purchases. One quarter of shoppers also say they will use their smartphones or tablets to research products before visiting a store. 

Overall, nine in 10 shoppers find shopping online during Cyber Monday, the Monday of online deals following Black Friday, somewhat to very satisfying. 

"American marketers have done a masterful job at crafting the traditional kick-off of holiday shopping into an event most shoppers revere," said Danielle Wanderer, chief marketing officer at research firm Qualtrics, which conducted the research. "There’s no other single day of the year when [more] American shoppers drop their mouse and head to their favorite brick-and-mortar retailer."

The research was based on the responses of more than 1,000 consumers.

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow David Mielach on Twitter @D_M89 or BusinessNewsDaily @bndarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+.