RAPAPORT... In-store sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday slipped from last year, but online and mobile sales surged, according to initial data following the annual U.S. retail bonanza.
Sales across the two days fell to $12.1 billion, according
to retail analytics provider ShopperTrak, which did not say by how much
sales decreased. However,
$10.4 billion of the sales were on Black Friday and $1.8 billion on Thanksgiving,
the group said in a statement November 28.
“We saw greater retail sales generated prior
to the Black Friday weekend, which is a result of retailers successfully
elongating the holiday season,” ShopperTrak chief revenue officer Kevin Kearns
said. “Ultimately, while many question the ongoing relevance
of Black Friday, it is still the biggest sales day of the year and signals the
start of the holiday shopping season.”
ShopperTrak stood by its estimate of a 2.4 percent increase
in bricks-and-mortar retail sales during the full 2015 holiday season. It will
release a full recap of the weekend’s shopping on December 1.
Data firm RetailNext said Black Friday sales fell 1.6
percent and shopper traffic was down 1.8 per cent. Combined sales on
Thanksgiving and Black Friday declined 1.5 percent and traffic was flat on last
year, its figures showed.
Meanwhile, online sales on Black Friday were expected to
increase 14 percent year on year to $2.72 billion and sales on
Thanksgiving itself were set to swell 25 percent to $1.73 billion, according to
Adobe Systems Incorporated, which tracks data on digital sales.
Mobile shopping grew to 34
percent of sales and tablets were responsible for 15 percent. Smartphone-based
sales soared 70 percent compared with 2014, this year making up 22 percent of
sales. Apple's iPhones were the platform for 67 percent of mobile sales and iPads were
used for 84 percent.
The average online discount was
24 percent. Social media and display ads were the “hidden gems” for the
steepest discounts but less than 3 percent of consumers took advantage of them
on Black Friday, Adobe added.
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