The holiday shopping season officially started on Black Friday, and while The Associated Press wrote that many consumers claimed they were done with their holiday shopping, some are still looking for good deals.
IBM's Coremetrics reported that online spending rose more than 14 percent from Thanksgiving through Saturday, according to the AP. Amazon.com shares rose 1.3 percent on expectations that shoppers would return for Cyber Monday, when retailers offer deals to lure people to buy items online while at work.
But Susan Mantel, associate professor of marketing, said while sites online competed to lure customers to their stores through online offers, Cyber Monday is still not as big as Black Friday.
"One reason you would want to have this push and these deals is to get people into your store," Mantel said, "and when we're talking online, we are talking about wanting to buy online, but the online retailers don't have that second input."
Freshman Taylor Haney said this was her time out on Black Friday. Haney said she went out to buy gifts for her friends and family, and she ended up buying more than she had planned.
"Not all of what I bought was part of the Black Friday bargains," she said. "I got a lot more things than I thought. They trick you."
It wasn't the first Black Friday shopping trip for English education major Shawna Vertrees. She started in 2005 and has gone out shopping every Black Friday since.
Vertrees said she was also taking advantage of the deals for Cyber Monday.
"I was buying some things [Monday] morning," she said. "I found really good deals on some sites."
Mantel said Black Friday usually meets the reasons why retailers would want to promote, such as getting rid of inventory and getting customers to their store. She said customers will not be as drawn to online sites, because they can compare one deal with another and usually don't have to look at other merchandise to purchase what they want.
"The Black Friday has this social aspect," she said. "It has this competitive aspect, [where retailers will say], ‘These people are shopping anyway, so I want them to come shopping at my store.'"
The AP said a fuller picture on spending will come Thursday when retailers report November sales. Investors have been hoping that consumers would feel more comfortable about shopping during the holidays.
Mantel said while many claim to be done with their Christmas shopping, there are signs that consumers may spend more this season.
"Even if you say you're done you may not completely be done, and the earlier you get that bulk done the more stuff you think to buy," she said.
The shopping season will be successful, Mantel said, because people are already thinking about what they want to buy and have to time to find it at the right price.
Haney said with all the shopping Friday, she was mostly done for the holidays.
"I still have a couple things I need to buy, but I pretty much completed my list," she said.
Vertrees said she was able to find good deals on Friday, but she still needs to go shopping for others.
"Now I do most of my gift shopping online," she said.
Haney said she doesn't like buying things on the Internet.
"I didn't plan on shopping on Cyber Monday," she said. "I'm not comfortable with shopping online."
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