In-Store Black Friday Sales Decline But Online Improves

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.