Faced with bigly price hikes, America goes Apple shopping (updated)

This was a queue at an Apple Store opening in Miami. It doesn’t mean it was as busy as that.

From Tysons Corner to Miami Worldcenter, Apple retail is experiencing a bit of a mini-boom, as US consumers go shopping, desperate to avoid paying even more for the things they’d planned to buy.

A Bloomberg report seems to be describing the absolute scenes in high street retailers across the country as being very like the holiday shopping season.

UPDATE: A subsequent WSJ report told us the extent of the sales rush. Citing anonymous card data from Earnest Analytics, the report told us that consumer spending rose 33% at Apple stores last Saturday, compared with the average across the previous four Saturdays

Buy now, pay later, but don’t pay more, later

US consumers, it seems, have considered the idea that everything they purchase is going to become more expensive, and decided to buy it now, instead.

They’ll handle the pain of any credit card payments (and any changes in interest rate, as recession bits) later down the line.

Retailers across America are opening their doors for this shopping deluge, with some offering deals and other inducements to keep traffic flowing through the door.

The cash tills would be ringing like Christmas, if most shoppers didn’t already pay with their smartphone. Consumers aren’t stupid and they don’t want to pay more than they should for the things they need.

“People out here treating iPhones like toilet paper in 2020,” one Tweet said.

Perhaps it’s true. I’ve reached out to Placer.ai and Adobe Insights to see if they have data to back these anecdotal claims up, but it sure looks like Junior will be getting a cheaper Easter egg this year while the parents enjoy their new iPhone.

You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky,  LinkedIn, and Mastodon.