black friday is under way four months ahead of the holiday season thursday macy’s ticker m became the latest retailer to launch its summer savings event called black friday in july joining a fight to attract shoppers with less to spend and well aware that big deals are likely to be available macy’s sales event runs from thursday through july 12 overlapping with summer deals announced by several other big retailers on the list are amazoncom ‘s amzn prime day target’s tgt circle week best buy’s bby black friday in july and walmart’s wmt new walmart week summer sales have become a staple for retailers over the last decade or so as a way to beat the midyear spending slump although the steep discounts retailers offer often squeeze their margins they are a necessary tactic to remain competitive and relevant among consumers who have grown accustomed to discounts according to a report from alvarez  marsal consumer and retail group adobe analytics predicts amazon’s twoday prime event will lead to 131 billion of online spending up 95 from last year this year’s discounts will be more crucial than normal because americans are spending less on discretionary purchases especially highticket items that may require financing indeed the average prime day shopper plans to spend 250 on summer sales events this year down from 388 in 2022 and 594 in 2021 according to a retailmenot survey of 1000 adults plenty of bargains will be available to tempt cautious consumers amazon for instance said it was offering “more deals than any prime day event before” this year macy’s is offering shoppers anywhere between 20 and 75 off on a variety of categories from furniture and sheets to handbags and shoes meanwhile target’s circle week could bring users savings of up to 50 on both targetowned and national brands best buy said shoppers can save as much as 880 on select laptops—and that is on top of a continuing fourth of july sale offering up to 40 off on appliances even before the summer sales discounts have been commonplace as barron’s has reported the total number of stockkeeping units or individual items on sale in the second quarter was 21 higher in the same period last year according to simeon siegel an analyst at bmo capital markets and more discounts are coming a lot of retailers will continue to offer sales events over the course of the summer on thursday walmart and target both launched their backtoschool savings campaigns which will last through the summer walmart is enticing customers by offering its backtoschool assortment at the same prices as last year target meanwhile is giving teachers and college students a onetime 20 discount on an entire shopping trip and isn’t charging sales tax in select stores during specific weekends it is too early to tell which retailer will gain the most from the sales skirmish but it is clear that consumers are the real winner