通胀如何影响黑色星期五的销售额？

It is officially the holiday shopping season. It's Black Friday.

假日购物季正式来临。今天是黑色星期五。

And this year, it has a bit of a shadow hanging over it because inflation is near record highs.

今年的假日购物季笼罩着阴影，因为通胀达到历史最高水平。

So how does this bode for holiday gifts?

对于节日礼物来说，这是一个怎样的预兆呢？

Well, we have NPR's Alina Selyukh here for an update.

嗯，NPR新闻的艾琳娜·塞柳克为我们带来最新消息。

All right. Let's talk inflation. How is it changing up the way people shop?

好。让我们来谈谈通货膨胀。通胀是如何改变人们的购物方式的?

It is by far the No. 1 issue people bring up.

到目前为止，这是人们最关心的问题。

Retailers themselves actually, like Target and Kohl's, have said that they are seeing people pull back from discretionary shopping because they're spending so much on necessities like food and gas.

实际上，塔吉特和科尔士等零售商自己也表示，他们发现人们不再随意购买商品，因为他们在食品和汽油等必需品上花费了太多钱。

I talked to Krish Thyagarajan at the analytics firm DataWeave.

我与数据分析公司DataWeave的克里什·提亚加拉扬进行了交谈。

It tracks prices and he says, basically, stores and shoppers are kind of in this standoff where stores are lowering prices, trying to keep people shopping, while many shoppers are kind of waiting for even bigger discounts.

该公司在跟踪价格，他表示，卖家和买家基本上陷入了僵局：卖家降价试图让人们购物，而许多买家则在等待更大的折扣。

Consumers want better price, so they are sitting on the side.

消费者想要更优惠的价格，所以他们在静观其变。

So it's going to really boil down to the consumer's blink first, or do the retailers blink first?

这归结起来，可以说是消费者先让步，还是零售商先让步？

So if retailers blink first, the discounts in December might bring some inflation relief because this year some people seem to only shop if they find something on sale.

如果零售商先让步，12月的折扣可能会缓解通胀压力，因为今年一些人似乎只在发现有打折的东西时才会购物。

So glad you mentioned that because I've had my eye on these sneakers, Alina, that I've held off...

很高兴你提到这一点，因为我看上了这双运动鞋，阿丽娜，我一直拖着……

OK, OK.

好吧,好吧。

I've held off on buying, but my resolve is weakening.

我一直在拖着没有购买，但我的决心正在减弱。

So are these big sales happening anytime soon?

短期内会有大减价吗？

You know, it always depends on the store.

你知道，这取决于商店。

But here's what I learned from Vivek Pandya, who tracks online shopping at Adobe.

这是我从维韦克·潘迪亚那里了解到的信息，潘迪亚在Adobe公司负责跟踪线上购物。

Computers and electronics - they're going to have some of the strongest discounts on record.

电脑和电子产品将迎来有史以来最强的折扣。

We're expecting down to around 32%.

我们预计会降至32%左右。

Other categories, like toys, apparel, home furniture, are seeing very good discounts.

其他类别，如玩具、服装、家居家具，都会有很好的折扣。

So not sure on the footwear front, but I just want to explain that for some of these things, like clothes and home goods, for example, there's been a big story of inventory glut.

我不清楚鞋类产品的折扣，但我只想谈谈其中一些品类，比如服装和家居用品，它们库存过剩的情况很严重。

We had shoppers buying like crazy last year. That meant stores ordered more and more.

去年，我们的购物者疯狂地购物。这意味着商店订购的商品越来越多。

And then shoppers decided they were over it just as many of these shipments were still arriving because of supply chain issues.

然后，购物者决定不再疯狂购买了，因为供应链问题，很多货物仍在运输中。

So now, if stores have too much of the wrong stuff, a lot of it is likely to be on sale.

所以，现在，如果商店里囤积了很多过剩的物品，很多东西很可能正在打折。

Pandya says the big question is whether people will actually decide to spend their money on all these extra things.

潘迪亚表示，最大的问题是人们是否真的会决定把钱花在所有这些多出的物品上。