It still remains one of the biggest shopping days of the year, and a boost for retailers. But compared to 10, even five years ago, Black Friday is losing steam steadily.

According to retail experts, and a new story this week featured at Mashable.com Black Friday has slipped to Number Five in the biggest shopping days of the year.  Wow!

We've heard of the impact of Cyber Monday and online shopping for a number of years, and how Amazon and other retailers have pushed out 'Black Friday' specials weeks before the actual day after Thanksgiving.

But now it's actually starting to resonate with consumers. They're seeing empty parking spaces in stores where you once to park a block away. Less foot traffic in what are called brick and mortar stores. Although it's not huge, there's also been bit of an impact from the recent Small Business Saturdays push across the country. Shoppers being urged to at least devote some time to smaller mom-and-pop stores.

There will still be lots of money spent. But now the holiday has slipped well down the list.  In 2014, Foursquare and other retailers and experts said the day was #3 on the biggest shopping list, behind Super Saturday (the last Saturday before Christmas) and even December 23.

In 2015, Black Friday fell two more slots to #5. Does it mean we're spending less? Not really. It's just that most major retailers began pushing out Black Friday type specials at the beginning of November, and people are looking for deals even earlier than before.

Plus, the popularity of Cyber Monday, and online shopping has spread out Black Friday's impact. So while we're still dumping money into the holidays, it's much more spread out.

And, retail experts say the allure of getting up at 2 or 3am and going shopping, dealing with crowds and lack of parking just to get great deals is wearing thin. Don't be surprised if by the year 2020, Black Friday might still be named as such, but it won't even really be that big a shopping day at all.

So, go out if you must, but at least your chances of getting trampled by other shoppers is greatly reduced.

 

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