Despite long, tiresome lines and the convenience of purchasing items with a click of a mouse, students found Black Friday shopping a tradition that can’t be replaced by so-called Cyber Monday.
Although students tend to shop online throughout the year, several still preferred to shop in stores with the commotion of a crowd of shoppers than online in the convenience of their homes.
Some of the complaints regarding Black Friday shopping include the waiting period to get to the cash register and the late-night and early-morning drives after Thanksgiving dinner in order to get door-buster deals.
“In terms of safety and convenience it is better, because you aren’t driving around late at night, fighting for parking and you can do it whenever,” said sophomore Jessica Wiley, “but I feel like the experience of Black Friday is better.”
Students crowded nearby malls and some even drove to outlets in Virginia in pursuit of the best deals on Friday. However, some students expressed less interest in purchasing items online Monday, despite searching websites.
“I went Black Friday shopping but I haven’t done any shopping for Cyber Monday,” Wiley said.
Some students said they weren’t as keen to shopping on Cyber Monday because of the amount of money they had already spent on Friday, whereas others said they had already purchased what they needed and wanted.
Laura Oh, a freshman biology major, said, “I didn’t purchase anything on Cyber Monday, but I did browse around a bit.”
But the opposite sentiment was also prevalent, said Tim Boyle, a senior chemistry and economics major. Among his friends, more people shopped online for Cyber Monday than in stores on Black Friday, he said.
He said websites functioning as online-only stores have attracted more students in recent years to shop online.
“I feel like a lot of students have discovered sites such as Newegg and TigerDirect that operate completely online and typically have a larger and better selection,” he said.
Boyle said the option to shop online on Monday rather than immediately after Thanksgiving dinner allows for friends and families to extend their Thanksgiving festivities instead of cutting them short.
“A lot of my college friends rather stay in doing shenanigans after Thanksgiving dinner and buy stuff online than have to go out into the chaos,” he added.
Oh believes the ease of online shopping in combination with sales prices on Cyber Monday is a good deal for college students since most don’t have the transportation to get to the mall.
“Cyber Monday caters better to the college population and Black Friday caters more to the family or parental population,” said Boyle.
Deals between the two promotional events were very similar so it depends on what kind of shopping experience you prefer, said John Kim, a junior economics major. “It’s about the same [deals], but sometimes you get more choices on Black Friday,” he said. “On Cyber Monday, you don’t have to wait in those lines forever.”
Cyber Monday boasted popular deals on clothing websites such as J.Crew as well as Amazon and other retail websites.
