Sales at retail stores on Black Friday fell to $10.4 billion this year, down from $11.6 billion in 2014, according to preliminary figures from research firm ShopperTrak.
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[Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images]With most retailers having their own special smartphone and tablet apps, consumers were able to access special deals more easily than ever, which is likely part of the reason why mobile shopping increased exponentially this year.
Dixons Retail’s Currys PC World chain reported unprecedented online demand, with a 53% increase in hourly web traffic compared to a year ago.
The folks at the National Retail Federation trade group concocted the term “Cyber Monday” in 2005 when they noticed a spike in online sales following the traditional post-Thanksgiving Black Friday start to the holiday shopping season.
Last year’s Black Friday saw shoppers in the United Kingdom fighting over bargains in some stores, leading some retailers to hire extra security staff over the weekend to prevent a repeat. Cyber Monday reached $2.64 billion in online sales past year.
And it’s not just the venue consumers are using to shop is changing.
Voucherbox.co.uk also analysed the percentages of discounts by category of shopping on the big discount days previous year with fashion and footwear discounts by far the most dominant in the market.
Expert Huddleston says that people who shop in store and online spend the most money over the holidays.
But executives from top retailers including Wal-Mart, Target and J. C. Penney dismiss the chatter about the irrelevance of Black Friday, saying they have worked hard to blend their online operations with the physical stores. They’ll also extend Cyber Monday sales through much of next week.
But the huge volume of traffic – Ebay is expecting nine million Britons to visit its website today – means that the websites of many retailers are struggling to cope.
Consumer analyst Richard Hyman said: “Last year I think the industry embraced Black Friday with tremendous enthusiasm and dived in”.
With many workers’ payday falling on the last day of the month, tomorrow could be even busier than Friday when discounts of up to 60 per cent saw internet takings pass the £1bn day mark for the first time.
Black Friday shopping is shifting from hours spent in line to more time online. “They don’t have to enter info this year”, she said. Granted, the weather was a lot nicer than usual in most states on Black Friday 2015, but the lines themselves are enough to still drive people to seek out alternatives. And in the last few years, they’ve opened locations on Thanksgiving Day, a once-sacred holiday from retail.
While Thanksgiving day shoppers were out in the lakes area, Black Friday still appeared to reign supreme for many shoppers.
An online campaign called them the Dirty Dozen, and urged shoppers to protest. “That way you don’t have to mail it and return it and wait”, shopper May Bermudez said.
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The NRF’s forecast is based on several economic indicators including consumer credit, disposable personal income and prior results for monthly retail sales releases.
