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Are Black Friday Deals Really That Good?

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Black Friday is the most popular shopping day of the year. More than 100 million people are expected to hit the stores for the best deals holiday season.

Analysts predict Americans will spend two billion dollars more than last Black Friday, but shoppers are split on whether the deals this year are that great.

Bags after bags, shoppers came out of stores with their hands full at Arden Fair Mall. Take Tonnesha Armstrong for example, who brought her own cart to the mall to help make shopping easier. It was packed with, "a bunch of kid stuff, jackets, a couple of things for the kids," she said.

Arden Fair was packed with shoppers Friday afternoon.

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"We could have gotten even better deals at some of the other stores like Macy's, but the cash register lines are crazy long," said Lew Ross, who along with his wife, ended up buying something that wasn't on their list.

"The little white jacket was not on sale at all," he said.

Which brings up the question. Just how great are the deals?

"I think the prices are already jacked up," shopper Meech Vavae said.

"I actually feel like they are better on Cyber Monday," shopper Shawnte Taylor said.

"I don't actually look at the exact price of the clothing if that's what you're asking, but the deals have always been 40 to 50 percent," Armstrong said.

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While Black Friday is the most famous shopping day of the year, it may not be the best day to find deals. That's according to Adobe Customer Insights.

"Black Friday we are expecting 5.9 billion dollars to be spent online. It won't be as big as Cyber Monday, but it's still a really big day," said John Copeland of Adobe.

A big enough day that a forecast from IBM shows retail sales are expected to rise 4.8% between now and the end of the year.

"People are feeling good about the economy, unemployment is low, wages are strong, and that's translating into greater willingness to spend around events like the holiday season," said Katherine Cullen of the National Retail Federation.

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Still, one shopper said it's more than just the deals.

"All the excitement about the holiday and needing some exercise because I ate too much yesterday," Ross said.

Other shoppers have their eyes set on Cyber Monday. Analysts predict it could be the biggest on record because more people will do their shopping online.

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