“Black Friday” lasts throughout November due to tight inventories in the US.

With inventory and worker shortages as the end of the year approaches, retailers are converting the “Black Friday” in an event that will last a whole month.

Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, said it has already started its Black Friday discounts, with $ 30 drops on AirPods and KidKraft dollhouses. Walmart, whose stores will be closed on Thanksgiving for the second year in a row, said it will only offer these discounts at its stores on Friday.

The rival retailer Target kicked off its “Black Friday” sales on Sunday, with up to 30% off Samsung and TCL flat-screen TVs, and 50% off headphones. Target said that from now on it will keep its roughly 1,900 stores closed for Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving weekend kicked off America’s holiday shopping season, with “overwhelming” discounts that led to consumers lining up several blocks outside of physical stores across the country on ” Black Friday ”, the day after Thanksgiving.

In recent years, in-store purchases on “Black Friday” have plummeted and online sales for the day surpassed physical sales for the first time in 2019.

This year, retailers began promoting holiday shopping “deals” in September, as a prolonged bottleneck in the supply chain threatens to prevent them from bringing new goods from Asia to the United States in the weeks leading up to the year-end holidays.

However, the bargains are modest. Retailers are expected to make price cuts of 5% to 25% this Friday, just slightly above the 5% -10% they offered in October, according to Adobe’s Digital Economy Index.

Best Buy said during a earnings call Tuesday that the start of its Black Friday promotions in mid-October hurt its quarterly profit margins.

Retailers have increasingly shortened “Black Friday” hours as shoppers turn to online shopping. “Will the discounts be as frequent and drastic as they have typically been in recent years?” Asked Marshal Cohen, NPD Group chief analyst. “No, not if the demand for the product is high and the supply is low, there is no reason to promote discounts.”

“Stores are trying to get people to think ‘take it now or it could disappear,'” said Maggie Smith, a 70-year-old artist from Tucson, Arizona.

According to a Reuters-IPSOS survey of about 1,000 people, more than a fifth of shoppers said they plan to buy gifts mostly online this year, while only 12% said they will buy mainly in stores.

Online sales on the same ‘Black Friday’ are expected to increase by 5%, to $ 9.5 billion, according to Adobe’s Digital Economy Index.

Both Walmart and Target said they will invest more in same-day options, including the ability for shoppers to pick up merchandise ordered online.

However, fulfilling express delivery online orders could put pressure on the retail workforce at a time when warehouse workers are in short supply.

“We’re seeing double the time for those changes and increases in salary, but that will be painful,” said Andy Halliwell of consultancy Publicis Sapient. “That will come out of the margins of the retailers.”

JC Penney, owned by Simon Property Group and Brookfield Asset Management, wants to hire 3,000 supply chain workers at the distribution centers, in addition to 25,000 temporary ones. The retailer is offering 2,000 retention bonuses for select supply chain associates at select locations.

Macy’s, which plans to hire 71,000 seasonal workers, said nearly a third of them will work in fulfillment centers across the country, and Kohl’s said in July that it would provide maximum bonuses of $ 400 to supply chain partners and stores. to stay for the holiday season.