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By Avi Krawitz
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Posted: 11/30/09 04:24
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RAPAPORT... U.S. consumers set the tone for the holiday season as they sought bargains from retailers this past Thanksgiving weekend.
“Shoppers proved this weekend that they were willing to open their wallets for a bargain, heading out to take advantage of great deals on less expensive items like toys, small appliances and winter clothes,” said Tracy Mullin, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the National Retail Federation (NRF).
According to NRF’s Black Friday survey, conducted by BIGresearch, traffic rose significantly from 172 million in 2008 to 195 million during this year’s Thanksgiving weekend, but the average individual spending rate fell from $372.57 to $343.31. Total spending reached an estimated $41.2 billion, NRF noted. A survey by ShopperTrak, which monitored sales on Black Friday alone, estimated that Black Friday 2009 sales rose 0.5 percent from 2008 to total $10.66 billion.
ShopperTrak concurred with the NRF in reporting that traffic was heavy throughout the country “as consumers responded to early openings and promotions which enticed shoppers to buy as there were no guarantees the heavy price cutting would continue following Thanksgiving weekend.”
Mullin stressed that retailers have their work cut out for them to keep people coming back through Christmas, adding that shoppers can expect retailers to continue to focus on low prices and bargains through the end of the year.
NRF reported that 49.4 percent of shoppers went to department stores over the weekend, a 13 percent increase from 2008, while 43.2 percent went to discount stores and 7.8 percent headed to outlet stores. Specialty electronic, clothing and grocery stores were also counted among the popular shopping destinations and NRF found that 28.5 percent of shoppers hit websites.
Spike in Online Shopping
Traffic to websites proved to be a strong sales element this year, as comScore, which measures e-commerce trends, reported an 11 percent rise in online sales to $595 million this Black Friday, compared with 2008. Online sales on Thanksgiving Day rose 10 percent to $318 million. Gian Fulgoni, comScore's chairman, noted that while Black Friday is better known for its focus on brick-and-mortar retail stores, it “is increasingly becoming one of the landmark days in the online holiday shopping world.”
He reported that Black Friday was the second heaviest online spending day since the start of the holiday shopping, which the group designates as November 1. Through November 27, online sales increased 3 percent from 2008 to $10.57 billion this year, comScore reported.
Fulgoni suggested that the growth may be an indication that the season is shaping up slightly more optimistically than anticipated, adding that “it may also reflect the heavy discounting and creative promotions being put forth by retailers that now encompass the use of social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter." The firm listed Amazon.com as the most visited website on Black Friday, followed by Walmart.com, Apple.com and Target.com, with each of those receiving more than 4 million unique visitors.
Despite these high numbers, sales on Cyber Monday, which immediately follows Thanksgiving weekend, are expected to live up to expectations of being a big shopping day. The Monday after Thanksgiving weekend became a popular shopping day years ago when workers headed back to the office and shopped during their working hours. NRF said it anticipates a 14 percent rise in traffic from the 2008 level as approximately 96.5 million people in the U.S. plan to shop online on November 30.
Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org, a division of NRF, said he expects bargain hunting to again be the name of the game. “Online retailers have been working overtime to make sure their Cyber Monday promotions are enticing, so shoppers can expect incredible bargains on popular holiday items, percentages off entire websites and a lot of free shopping,” Silverman said.
Sign of the Times
Eric Best, the CEO of Mercent, a provider of online solutions to retailers, noted that the growth seen in online retail sales on Black Friday further confirmed his belief that the retail industry, especially the online sector, "is in a measured recovery.” As a result, he expects the growth to continue on Cyber Monday and extend through the peak December sales season. Similarly, the NRF has maintained its holiday forecast of 1 percent growth in sales over 2008.
Most agreed that many of the trends seen so far, both online and off, were somewhat expected, particularly as the economic environment is causing people to spend less and aggressively search for bargains.
“During a more robust economy, people may be inclined to hit the snooze button on Black Friday, but high unemployment and a focus on price caused shoppers to visit stores early in anticipation of the best deals,” said Phil Rist, the executive vice president of strategic initiatives for BIGresearch.
LH
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