Black Friday Sales up a modest 3% despite Recession Fears

[Carazariah]

Bloomberg is reporting that Black Friday drew in the shoppers at least for Black Friday at a 3% jump over last year which posted an 8% jump over 2006. :) At least Black Friday is alive and well and I'm sure all the economist will be watching closely to see if this uptick carries through the Holiday season or is just a momentary jump before the drawback really begins!

 

Maybe there were enough good deals out there after all?

 

Full Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aBvgyrY3aNPg&refer=home

 

C

 

Pertinent Excerpt:

U.S. holiday retail sales increased 3 percent yesterday from a year earlier, the smallest gain for a “Black Friday” in three years, research firm ShopperTrak RCT Corp. said.

 

Sales rose to $10.6 billion, the Chicago-based company said in a statement. The increase was the smallest since a decline of 0.9 percent in 2005 and compares with a jump of 8.3 percent last year.

 

“So far, so good,” said Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners LLC, a retail consulting firm based in New Canaan, Connecticut. “But a decent Black Friday figure doesn’t predict the whole season. The question is, how much momentum we can keep” in this “challenging” economic environment, Johnson said.

[Brad]

the problem is going to be only having 3 more weekends between BF and Christmas as opposed to the normal 4

[mistyinca]

I always wonder if they are comparing apples to apples.

 

Since I have no concept of the numbers they are talking, let's say shoppers spent:

 

$20 million last year. So would they be saying they spent $20.6 million this year? I mean, everything costs more this year: groceries are higher, household items are higher...the price of everything went up. That to me really isn't spending MORE per se. Things cost more.

 

Kind of like how they base movie sales. Seems they need to tally things in terms of units rather than bottom line $$.

 

Know what I mean?

[elena_398]

I know my Walmart was busier than last year. Usually when I show up around 2-2:30am there, I get a front space. I showed up this year at the same time and I was mid-parking in the lot. So crazy.

[JollyGG]

I have a seasonal job at TRU and our store saw twice the projected sales on the day after Thanksgiving. It was crazy. I worked Friday evening (had to shop in the morning) and Saturday morning and there was barely anything left on the shelves.

[Carazariah]

Brad,

That's true. . . fewer weekends means probably fewer sales overall before Christmas. . . .

 

Mistyinca,

I think although Groceries are definitely higher, consumer items, electronics etc. . . have probably held steady especially since the Dollar has rebounded significantly since the economic financial crisis. So I think it is useful to compare overall sales figures for an idea of how things are progressing year over year in a sales environment, although once you go over 10 or 20 years back you need to adjust your numbers for inflation/cost of living etc. . . to look apples to apples I would say.

[JohnnyLaRue]

I was watching the news and they talked about this tonight. They said most shoppers they interviewed said they spent more on clothes and other needs on BF as opposed to years past. They planned to buy now when the prices were low.

 

If this sample of people is accurate than the increase in spending on BF was due to good deals on clothes and other needs.

[JollyGG]

I was watching the news and they talked about this tonight. They said most shoppers they interviewed said they spent more on clothes and other needs on BF as opposed to years past. They planned to buy now when the prices were low.

 

If this sample of people is accurate than the increase in spending on BF was due to good deals on clothes and other needs.

I have to say that the majority of money I spent on black Friday was on clothes for the kids. I spent $80 at Sears with all their kids clothes marked at 60% off. Plus got a great deal on pjs at children's place. also got the kids some bedding they needed. I probably only spent $30 on actual gift stuff that day.

[Brad]

November was pretty bad overall:

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081204/ap_on_bi_ge/retail_sales_5

[amberjobryant]

I think that the trend towards only buying "usefull" vs luxury items was very evident this BF, I know at our local walmart they sold out of the clothes and PJ that where on sale almost immediatly (we wound up at kmart for kids pjs), but 30 mins into the sale, I walked up and picked up a portable DVD player right off the pallet and there where still tons, in years past it would have been the other way around.

[Marcster]

I think that the trend towards only buying "usefull" vs luxury items was very evident this BF, I know at our local walmart they sold out of the clothes and PJ that where on sale almost immediatly (we wound up at kmart for kids pjs), but 30 mins into the sale, I walked up and picked up a portable DVD player right off the pallet and there where still tons, in years past it would have been the other way around.

My wife and I were at Walmart earlier this week... They had a enormous display of women's socks in clear boxes. "Here, honey, I got you some socks..."

[herculesmomma]

I bet you will see December sales down significantly from last year. My guess is a lot of people were trying to get their shopping done early with as many bargains as possible. Because I know everyone I've spoken to, in both Michigan and Chicago, said they will be cutting back on spending for sure this year.

 

Also, my Christmas list also consisted of things that I need vs things I want.

 

But maybe it's related to the location the people I know live in. A rust belt thing? I don't know.

[Ladyhawk12]

I know we bought the kids Jeans,Pjs and hoodies at WM since the prices were good BF. And even though we didn't buy much, what we did buy added up REAL quick. I feel like I don't know where we spent it all:shock: And I'm still not done. Prices are Higher and I feel are a big differance. Most of us are still making the same income:(

[alexac]

It would be interesting to see how much merchandise is brought back during this season.I think there will be a lot more returns than usual as people get more frugal. I know I have brought back quite a lot more than normal because I don't absolutely need certain things, and we aren't making the income that we were making last year....

[Sandi852]

November sales being down overall makes sense. Part of the weekend after thanksgiving (that Sunday) will fall into Dec for most retailers. The week after thanksgiving last year fell into November and this year falls into December with the shift in thanksgiving.

 

I do number crunching like this for a living and we always see the shift of sales from Nov to Dec when thanksgiving is late. No matter how close to Christmas thanksgiving falls, it still seems like thanksgiving is the trigger to start shopping.

 

I am hoping that retailers do OK this year. I expect them to be down, but hopefully they aren't down too badly. More job losses to come if that's the case.