Major retailers such as Target and Walmart
Decided to close stores on Thanksgiving Day on the 25th
Provide holidays to prevent employee churn
I decided to focus on Black Friday instead.
photo = AP
Major U.S. retailers have decided to close their stores on Thanksgiving Day, which is Korea’s Chuseok. This is because distribution companies, which are suffering from job shortages, have decided to offer Thanksgiving holidays to prevent employees from leaving or changing jobs. Instead of closing on Thanksgiving, they plan to focus on the next day, Black Friday.
Target, a U.S. retailer, announced on the 22nd (local time) that it will not open stores on Thanksgiving Day, not only this year, but also in the future. This year, Thanksgiving is on the 25th. All 1915 of Target’s U.S. stores will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, and call centers and distribution centers will have a minimum number of workers. Walmart also decided to close 5,000 U.S. stores. Earlier, Walmart also stated that the reason for the decision to close on Thanksgiving was “a level of appreciation for the dedication and hard work of its employees.” Colles and Macy’s, department stores in the US, and Simon Mall, a shopping mall operator, are also participating in this. Dollar General has decided to close some local stores, including Massachusetts.
It is analyzed that the reason why American retailers decided to close Thanksgiving Day is because of the severe job shortage. This means that it is the result of the management judgment that giving Thanksgiving holidays helps to retain employees in a situation where the number of job seekers is small compared to the demand for job openings from companies.
The decision was also influenced by the fact that U.S. retailers closed their stores on Thanksgiving Day last year due to COVID-19, but customers did not express any complaints. In the past, offline retailers have been selling since Thanksgiving, the day before Black Friday, to respond to Amazon. However, the sales on the day of Thanksgiving were only at a level that reflected the performance that could have been achieved on Black Friday, and there were also many voices from customers saying, “I want to focus on the holidays instead of shopping on Thanksgiving.”
Instead, American retailers decided to focus on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, to boost sales. Instead of closing stores on Thanksgiving Day, Walmart and Coles plan to open early on Black Friday to welcome customers.
Reporter Lee Go-woon ccat@hankyung.com
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