Black Friday 2019: Why US-China Trade War Will Not Affect Sales

Expectations are high on Black Friday 2019 as precautionary steps by retailers at the inventory front may reduce the impact of China trade war tariffs on consumers and better sales are anticipated than last year.

Retailers are awaiting strong sales during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. The trade war and wavering hopes on a trade deal between the United States and China had induced uncertainty into the markets and consumers, retailers, and manufacturers are affected.

According to an expert perspective on CNN, many retailers, anticipating potential price increases from tariffs pre-bought inventory for their stores last year itself.

This, according to the National Retail Federation will help consumers to stay unaffected by price hikes despite the shadow of the upcoming tariff on December 15 covering many consumer and electronics goods.

The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales to grow nearly 4 percent, per CNBC report. It says JP Morgan analysts are expecting holiday sales to surge close to 5 percent stronger than the 1.9 percent growth of 2018.

Such expectations have graced the stocks of retailers Best Buy, Costco, and Amazon which are up in double-digit percentages.

Holiday sales are critical to many retailers

For many companies in the retailing space, the holiday season brings in as much as 30 percent of annual sales. That makes performance during the shopping season critical for the voyage into the New year.

Rob Garf, vice president of strategy for Salesforce said: “There will be some winners and losers this holiday season. The winners will be mainly those have focused on digital transformation in their culture.”

This year holiday shopping started a bit earlier, with many retailers pushing promotions right from Veterans Day. The short gap between Black Friday and Christmas this year added a new urgency for early holiday sales and could help Black Friday 2019.

The likelihood of a new tariff from December 15 is also adding to the pressure for early holiday deals. So, consumers will look at Black Friday to get the best prices before the tariffs kick in.

Walmart Black Friday sales

Meanwhile, Fox News reported the deep discounts from Walmart on a wide range of products for Black Friday.

It said Black Friday deals will start in-store at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day and some deals will reflect in the online sales starting at 10 p.m. on Wednesday.

“We’ve been waiting for this day. Our customers are excited and this is one of the busiest shopping days during the holiday season,” said Edgar Orellana, a Walmart official at Orlando Walmart. Best deals are expected in electronics.

“We have 50 inch TVs for $148. We have a 65 inch, Philips Smart TV for $248. We have the Apple AirPods. They’re going to be $129,” added Orellana.

Deals will also cover iPads, X-Box, Apple Watches, and Nintendo in addition to $450 worth Gift cards for deals on smartphones.