Black Friday leaves retailers feeling blue
The early verdict on the start of the Christmas shopping season is now in and can be summed up in three words: more is less.
That is to say, more shoppers ventured out into the crisp autumn air or spent extra time in front of their personal computer during Black Friday weekend – the unofficial start of the Christmas shopping season – but they didn’t spend as much money.
And that’s not a good sign for retailers who are looking to end a generally lackluster year with a bang, not a whimper.
The National Retail Federation reported over the weekend that 195 million shoppers either visited stores or ordered merchandise online this year, a jump of 13 percent from the 172 million who did so last year.
But the average amount spent per shopper fell $29.26 from a year ago to $343.31, a considerable drop of about 8 percent. Overall, total spending reached an estimated $41.2 billion, according to a survey of 5,000 consumers conducted for the federation by BIGresearch, a consumer market intelligence firm based in Worthington, Ohio.
While it’s always risky to make projections based on a single weekend, there were a number of interesting tidbits to emerge. Among them:
n Where they shopped: Department stores (59 million) and discount stores (52 million) were the destinations of choice for most holiday shoppers. Those were followed by electronics stores (35 million), online (34 million) and clothing and accessory stores (27 million.)
n What they bought: Clothing (50.9 percent) and books (40.3 percent) were the most popular items purchased, pretty much on par with last year. Other got-to-have items were toys (32.2 percent) – up nearly 13 percent from 2008 – personal care and beauty items (22.4 percent), gift cards (21.2 percent) and sporting goods (12.6 percent.
n When they shopped: As anyone knows who got up at the crack of dawn on Black Friday, you had plenty of company. Nearly one third of shoppers (31.2 percent) reported being at the stores by 5 a.m., considerably more than the 23.3 percent who did so the previous year.
“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, executive vice president of strategic initiatives for BIGresearch.
Lisa Moreau was one of those “focus on price” shoppers. As reported in Saturday’s Telegraph, the Hudson woman went to bed at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day so she could be at Kohl’s in time for its 5 a.m. opening the next day.
Twenty-five minutes later, she was standing in a long checkout line, her cart filled with bedding and pajamas.
Her prize possession? King-size sheets for $15.99, which she figured could have cost her $80 under more ordinary circumstances.
While the Black Friday sales figures may have been enough to turn some retailers blue – the national federation is projecting overall holiday sales to slip 1 percent from last year – many were looking toward more favorable results on Cyber Monday.
An estimated 96.5 million Americans were expected to shop online yesterday, up 11.5 million from last year.
And retailers had no intention of being caught unprepared. Nearly nine out of every 10 had special promotions planned, whether they be specific deals, one-day sales or free shipping on all purchases. And half of them planned to reach out to consumers directly through a special promotional e-mail.
Still, given the state of the economy, retailers will be hard pressed to reach even last year’s sales figures. After all, splurging on holiday gifts isn’t the first thing that comes to mind if you are without a job or fear losing one around the time a jolly old man in a red suit comes to town.
