INDIANAPOLIS — Black Friday shoppers lined up bright and early outside retailers across Indianapolis, with many embracing both in-store and online shopping strategies to score the best deals on the year's biggest shopping day.
Ezekiel Pugh arrived at Best Buy around 5 a.m., securing the first spot in line while bundled up against the cold morning temperatures.
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"I came to this Best Buy because I know that they usually get better stock of Pokémon cards. And it's a Friday drop, and it's Black Friday, so we're hoping that there's some stuff in there," Pugh said.
Fellow shopper Audra Seifert successfully purchased a Samsung OLED TV for just over $900, expressing satisfaction with her Black Friday deal.
While shoppers ventured out to physical stores, many indicated they would complete most of their holiday shopping online. Pugh estimated he does about 70% of his shopping online compared to 30% in stores.
John Talbott, a marketing professor at Indiana University, confirmed that Black Friday remains the single biggest shopping day of the year, with online stores serving as major retailers' primary locations.
"Every major retailer, their single biggest location is their online store, right? And so they start earlier," Talbott said.
With over 70% of Americans reporting frustrations while navigating online shopping, Talbott suggested using artificial intelligence tools to become smarter shoppers.
"You can give ChatGPT a list of the things you want, and it will track them in the background and give you alerts. That's just one of the AI shopping tools that are available. And you can have ChatGPT plot a path through how you're gonna go to a store, which stores to hit first," Talbott said.
No matter how you shop, Talbott encourages everyone to practice patience.
"Take your time, be kind to other people when you're in the store, be kind to especially the people that are working in the store during that holiday season, who are really the centerpiece of every retailer, are the people that are on the front lines, like the folks here that are dealing with us," Talbott explained. "Let's be nice, have a nice Christmas and holiday season."
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Griffin Gonzalez is the In Your Community multimedia journalist for Hamilton County. He joined WRTV in January of 2024. Griffin loves to tell stories about people overcoming their biggest obstacles and share the good news that his community has to offer. Share your story ideas and important issues with Griffin by emailing him at griffin.gonzalez@wrtv.com.
