Skip to content
MarketScale
Demo
‹ Back to IndustriesRetail

Retail Experts Discuss Black Friday and How it has Evolved

This is The MarketScale Retail Show, hosted by Daniel Litwin, the Voice of B2B. Your weekly B2B kick-back for the best thought leadership in the industry, bringing you education, information and inspiration.   On today’s episode of the MarketScale Retail Show, we’re looking at Black Friday 2018. Things have changed over the last few years…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Retail teams put it to work with Sales Enablement.

Share
Retail Experts Discuss Black Friday and How it has Evolved

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Retail?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Retail coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

This is The MarketScale Retail Show, hosted by Daniel Litwin, the Voice of B2B. Your weekly B2B kick-back for the best thought leadership in the industry, bringing you education, information and inspiration.

On today’s episode of the MarketScale Retail Show, we’re looking at Black Friday 2018. Things have changed over the last few years in Retail, and Black Friday hasn’t been left out. With industry giants like Amazon overtaking e-commerce, consumers have found year-round ways to save money. With Black Friday losing it’s intrigue, what is a shopper looking for, and how should brick-and-mortar stores attract customers into their stores? We have all that in more, with two features from branding experts in Retail; Jennifer Ruscin, CEO and Owner of Jennifer Kaylo Ruscin Enterprises, explains best practices for staying profitable in a season that demands deals, and Stephenie Sullivan, Owner of Sully Consult, helps us define the Black Friday shopper of today, and what it will take to get them engaged.

DEFINING THE BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPER

There are typically two kinds of in-store Black Friday shoppers. On one hand you have the budget hunters; this shopper is gearing up for the holiday season and has gifts galore to compile, so Black Friday is the perfect place to secure real deals on a tight budget. On the other hand, you have the thrill seekers; this shopper gets a kick of adrenaline running through store front doors at opening, living for the event of the crowds and the bargain search.

In 2018, your traditional Black Friday shopper has evolved. “The shopper over the years has become more savvy, they’ve learned they can now shop the best deals, not just take the retailer for their word,” Stephenie Sullivan, Owner of Sully Consult, told us on our podcast. Sullivan, who was worked in strategic brand positioning for Walmart and traditional grocery over the last 16 years, remembers when Black Friday used to be the bargain event of the year; now, it’s losing its intrigue. This is forcing retailers to be creative and find non-financial ways to attract this new-age shopper. “A lot of retailers are finding customer service, they’re looking at item exclusivity,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan breaks down some specific examples of how retailers are adapting to the 2018 Black Friday shopper, and explains that even as online deals remove some of the budget power from Black Friday, people that want to be out that day won’t be dissuaded by easy deals. “When you’re looking for the thrill seeking side of it, you want to be where you’re gonna get the most action and feel like you’ve conquered the biggest mountain,” Sullivan said.

HOW RETAILERS ARE ADAPTING TO BLACK FRIDAY EVERY DAY

Jennifer Ruscin, CEO and Owner of Jennifer Kaylo Ruscin Enterprises, made a bold claim on our podcast. “These days, every day is Black Friday online. And that’s kind of tough to stomach.” She’s not wrong. Amazon and other e-commerce giants are revolutionizing deals, and customers know where to find them any time of the year. That doesn’t mean shoppers don’t want to partake in Black Friday; consumer confidence is at an all-time high according to Bloomberg News. “Median wages are on the rise, households are wealthier thanks to continued gains in the stock market,” Ruscin said, which could make this the best Christmas shopping season in recent memory. And yet, retailers are still worried. How do you convert that consumer confidence into feet at your store?

Walmart, for example, is going above and beyond to get people into their stores. The retail giant is hosting 19,000 in-store events to let shoppers test out toys and tech, as well as launching a digital toy lab so kids can play with their toys in virtual simulations. “You can see Walmart is saying ‘hey, we’re not Amazon, but we are certainly also going to take our in-store experience and relay that back in a digital way,'” Ruscin said. She dives into the hottest buying trends for 2018’s Black Friday, as well as lists out six best practice tips for how retailers can stay profitable during a season expectation of low prices.

OTHER ARTICLES REFERENCED

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Retail Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @RetailMKSL

Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale

LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Retail starts with a company putting its merchandising leads, store operations teams, and category managers on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Category buyers trust operators, so your merchandising leads shorten the distance between first search and first call.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.
B2B Weekly

The week in Retail, and sixteen other industries, every Monday.

Ten stories, one-line takes, five minutes. Free.

Retail: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Retail buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Retail expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your merchandising leads, store operations teams, and category managers into the articles, video, and social content Retail buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Retail Insights

Deloitte: Holiday e-commerce to reach up to $319B in 2026–27

Deloitte: Holiday e-commerce to reach up to $319B in 2026–27

Deloitte forecasts U.S. holiday e-commerce of $316.1 billion to $318.9 billion for November 2026 through January 2027, up 7.5% to 8.4%. Total retail is projected to grow 4% to 4.8% to about $1.7 trillion. The faster online growth rate is a planning input for fulfillment staffing and site readiness.

  • 01Last season's total holiday sales grew 4.1% by Census Bureau count, above the 2.9% to 3.4% range Deloitte had forecast in fall 2025.
  • 02Deloitte's 2025 survey found 33% of U.S. consumers expected to use generative AI somewhere in their holiday shopping; product data quality now matters for machine readers as well as human ones.
  • 03Adobe's and Salesforce's holiday projections landed in late September and October last year, so the next two to six weeks should bring corroborating or conflicting numbers to plan against.

Sep 18, 2026

Club stores drove nearly half of the growth in $330B U.S. store-brand sales

Club stores drove nearly half of the growth in $330B U.S. store-brand sales

Circana reports U.S. private-label sales reached $330 billion, with store brands holding 24% unit share and 23% dollar share of CPG. Club stores drove nearly half of the growth. Circana expects share gains to continue through 2026 at a slower pace as national brands sharpen pricing and innovation.

  • 01Club channels account for nearly half of all U.S. private-brand growth, so a store-brand program benchmarked only against supermarket peers is missing where the volume is actually moving.
  • 02A one-point gap between store-brand unit share (24%) and dollar share (23%) suggests private label is no longer priced far below the market average, which changes the margin math for premium-tier extensions.
  • 03The EU's 50% private-label unit share is more than double the U.S. figure, a reference point for how much headroom exists even as Circana expects the U.S. pace to moderate through 2026.

Sep 17, 2026

Modern Retail: Meta Lab footprint set to nearly double

Modern Retail: Meta Lab footprint set to nearly double

Meta is nearly doubling the store footprint of Meta Lab, its retail concept for Ray-Ban AI glasses, according to Modern Retail. In November 2025, The Wall Street Journal reported on pop-up stores in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Burlingame and New York City. The stores are built for lingering and selfies. That design brief matters for any brand selling a wearable people must try on.

  • 01Meta designed its Meta Lab pop-ups around dwell time and photo-taking, with coffee stations and full-length mirrors; its creative director told The Wall Street Journal the company wants visitors to bring friends and stay a while rather than move through quickly.
  • 02For wearable launches where fit and looks are key, Meta’s planned store expansion offers a test case for whether in-person try-on is worth the cost.
  • 03The signal to watch is whether the new Meta Lab locations keep the pop-up format the Journal described or shift toward longer-term leases.

Sep 17, 2026

Explore More Retail Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Retail.

Browse Retail Hub

For Retail teams

See how Retail teams use MarketScale →

Sales Enablement

Explore Channels

Industry news, analysis, and expert perspectives

Professional AV›Engineering & Construction›Education Technology›Healthcare›Energy›Software & Technology›Retail›Business Services›Industrial IoT›Sports & Entertainment›Transportation›Sciences›Building Management›Food & Beverage›Architecture & Design›Hospitality›Marketing Tech›
Keep exploring

More from Retail

Retail hubMore expert Retail coverage.Explore →Sales EnablementEquip the floor and the field.Explore →BrivoAccess tech storytelling.Explore →State of B2B MarketingWhat is working in B2B marketing now.Explore →

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Retail and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512