To the chagrin of retailers, shoppers lived up to projections that while more people would be out at the malls, they would spend less over the Black Friday weekend, the all important kickoff to the holiday shopping season.
Some 195 million shoppers visited stores and Web sites, up from 172 million last year. The average spending over the weekend dropped to $343.31 per person from $372.57 one year ago with total spending reaching an estimated $41.2 billion, according to a National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGresearch.
“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, NRF president and CEO, in a release. “While retailers are encouraged by the number of Americans who shopped over Black Friday weekend, they know they have their work cut out for them to keep people coming back through Christmas. Shoppers can continue to expect retailers to focus on low prices and bargains through the end of December.”
Department stores made out the best, with 49.4% of shoppers visiting at least one, a 12.9% increase from last year. Discount retailers took an uncharacteristic back seat, with 43.2% of holiday shoppers heading to discount stores over the weekend and another 7.8% heading to outlet stores, NRF found.
Shoppers also visited electronics stores (29.0%), clothing stores (22.9%), and grocery stores (19.6%).
These consumers didn’t wait for Cyber Monday to shop online. Some 28.5% flipped on their computers over the weekend in search of online bargains. About 84.6 million people are expected to have shopped online yesterday, up 17.5% from 72 million last year, according to a Shop.org survey, also conducted by BIGresearch.
“In an economy like this one, every retailer wants to be a discounter,” Mullin said. “Department stores have done an admirable job touting both low prices and good quality, which are important requirements for holiday shoppers on a budget.”
The most popular purchases were of clothing (50.9%) and books (40.3%), which remained nearly unchanged over last year. One-third of shoppers bought toys, an increase of 12.9% from last year. Another 12.6% of people bought sporting goods, compared to 11.4% last year, 22.4% bought personal care or beauty items vs. 19.0% and another 21.2% purchased gift cards vs. 18.7%).
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