Shoppers are back in store, online, but virus impact lingers
By ANNE D’INNOCENZIO
AP Retail Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are spending freely and going back to store shopping, knocking out some of the momentum in online sales from last year when Americans were making many of their purchases exclusively via the internet. Shopper traffic roared back on Black Friday, but it was still below pre-pandemic levels in part because retailers spread out big deals starting in October. The early buying also is expected to take a bite out of online sales on Monday, also known as Cyber Monday. Still, Black Friday is expected to once again be the busiest shopping day of the year, while Cyber Monday should also be the year’s biggest online spending day.