California, USA - Recent (CGTN - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of screen showing web pages on Black Friday
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Gretchen Schott, shopper (starting with shot 1):
"I don't have any thought of going to any store this year, just due to COVID. Too much of a risk."
3. Shopper searching Black Friday online
4. Web page showing clothing for sale
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Kirthi Kalyanam, director, Retail Management Institute, Santa Clara University (starting with shot 4):
"How do consumers start their shopping journey? So, if you go to a company like Google and ask them where are consumers starting their shopping journey, they'll tell you that it's not 50-50. It's the vast majority of consumers today, maybe as high as 90 percent are starting every shopping journey online."
6. Web page showing products for sale
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Norman Fong, co-founder, BuyVia (partially overlaid with shot 8):
"We thought that we would see more customers take advantage of these early sales, but from our initial numbers, we didn't see that case. And we're starting to notice more and more people are waiting for the last minute. This year it's sort of a slow grind upwards as we get closer and closer to Black Friday."
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8. Smartphone showing showing ads, products
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9. Various of smartphone showing web pages of BuyVia
10. Various of screen showing products
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Norman Fong, co-founder, BuyVia (ending with shot 12):
"With the pandemic and more and more people shopping online, you could say what's the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Because Black Friday traditionally has been a day for retailers, physical retailers. Is it turning into the same thing as Cyber Monday? Yes."
12. Products on BuyVia web pages
13. Shoppers in supermarket
14. Shoppers entering market

The official Black Friday, the day many retail stores offer deep discounts, is just a week away; however, this year, it has started much earlier due to the strict prevention and safety concern of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The reason for the early start is in large part due to some retailers, like Walmart, are attempting to keep people safe while still making sales. Instead of focusing on a single day, it broke up Black Friday into three separate events, the first of which began a couple of weeks ago.

"I don't have any thought of going to any store this year, just due to COVID. Too much of a risk," said Gretchen Schott, a shopper.

Like many other brick and mortar operations, Walmart has combined its Black Friday in-store specials with online promotions.

"How do consumers start their shopping journey? So, if you go to a company like Google and ask them where are consumers starting their shopping journey, they'll tell you that it's not 50-50. It's the vast majority of consumers today, maybe as high as 90 percent are starting every shopping journey online," said Kirthi Kalyanam, the director of the Retail Management Institute of Santa Clara University.

Norman Fong, co-founder of the BuyVia, said that the trend they are seeing for online sales has been slow and gradual.

"We thought that we would see more customers take advantage of these early sales, but from our initial numbers, we didn't see that case. And we're starting to notice more and more people are waiting for the last minute. This year it's sort of a slow grind upwards as we get closer and closer to Black Friday," said Fong.

Fong said the pandemic has accelerated the shift from in-store to online shopping by at least five years, and this year's Black Friday is blurring the lines with the day traditionally set aside for online shopping - Cyber Monday.

"With the pandemic and more and more people shopping online, you could say what's the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Because Black Friday traditionally has been a day for retailers, physical retailers. Is it turning into the same thing as Cyber Monday? Yes," said Fong.

Although lots of effort has been made, the outcome of the holiday shopping season is still unclear, noting the gains of those eager to buy could also be canceled out by those who've recently lost jobs and are still waiting for stimulus checks to arrive.