Every year at this time the big story is how many more retailers anxious for big Black Friday sales are opening their stores on Thanksgiving Day, but the real story is why they’re doing this – because Black Friday is becoming extinct.

AOL is reporting on the sagging numbers behind what was once the biggest shopping day of the year which is beginning to raise the question of whether or not Black Friday is even relevant to today’s shopper.

“ . . . [O]ver the last several years, shopper traffic in stores on Black Friday has been falling with many retailers like Walmart, Target, and Amazon kicking off their holiday discounts online several weeks in advance,” AOL reports. “Foot traffic in stores this year is expected to fall by about 3.5% on Black Friday compared to last year . . .”

According to the National Retail Federation, this isn’t the first year of decline in Black Friday traffic. Last year, only 102 million shoppers hit the local mall over the Thanksgiving weekend, which is down from 147 million in 2012.

While this doesn’t mean people aren’t shopping for the holidays, it just means that they aren’t waiting for Black Friday – or Cyber Monday, for that matter – and are choosing to do their shopping online rather than in stores.

Overall spending during the holiday shopping season is expected to increase 3.6% over last year to $655.8 billion with online sales forecasted to grow between seven and 10 percent over last year to as much as $117 billion.

According to a survey by Market Track, a Chicago-based advertising firm, nearly half of American shoppers are expected to get most of their holiday shopping done before Black Friday this year.

A BDO survey of retail executives confirms that assessment with more than two-thirds reporting that they expect Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales to remain flat this year.

"While retail CMOs [chief marketing officers] expect an overall holiday sales pop (+4.7%), they continue to see Thanksgiving Weekend fizzling in importance," the survey said.

However, as AOL reports, the good news for consumers is that the Black Friday "effect" of extreme discounts is now spread across the months of November and December.

This means you won’t miss out on any good deals if you opt to stay home and enjoy your family on Thanksgiving day!

© All Rights Reserved, Living His Life Abundantly®/Women of Grace®  http://www.womenofgrace.com