The group is predicting that total retail sales (both online and in store) will rise 3.7% this year, less than last year’s total of 4.1%.
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That shift has caused the National Retail Federation, the nation’s largest retail trade group, to overhaul the way it tracks shopper spending and visits during the four-day Thanksgiving weekend – something it’s been doing for more than a decade.
Among the businesses taking part was Tesco, which opened its Extra stores at 5am, they had installed queuing systems and assured shoppers there would be enough security and stock following scuffles over limited numbers of items a year ago.
Laishley said she tries to avoid Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping because she feels bad for the employees who have to work.
Retail websites were swamped, ringing up a record-breaking $2.74 billion in sales, a 14.3% jump from previous year. “Of course, the flip side was true for brands with strong digital presences that offered a seamless multichannel experience, and it’s those brands that have a head start into retail’s most important season”. The analytics company now expects November sales at major retailers to fall 0.9 percent overall.
Starting Thursday afternoon lines formed outside of stores that opened on Thanksgiving for Black Friday sales. The NRF also reported that 121 million U.S. shoppers said that they’re planning to shop more deals online for Cyber Monday.
The chaos came a day before what is typically considered the biggest shopping event in the United States, Black Friday. Although online sales rose, overall sales this year fell 10%, per research firm ShopperTrak.
There’s little doubt Black Friday is not the one-day, mall-centric mob scene that it used to be.
The holiday season is crucial to retailers, which can make up to 40 percent of their annual sales during that time.
“I saw a lot of great deals for Black Friday but some of those deals went through the weekend even until Monday”, Wilson said.
ShopperTrak estimated that Americans spent $20.43 billion in physical stores between Thanksgiving and Sunday, down from $22.5 billion in 2014.
Like always, Black Friday have drawn plenty of shoppers, but maybe not as much as in recent years as more people headed for bargains online.
Unsurprisingly, the most sought-after products this year, and nearly every year, were consumer electronics and home entertainment systems.
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The continuous or lengthened operations of the retail stores also extended to some of the food vendors looking to serve those looking for their first meal since Thanksgiving dinner. Although traffic eventually died down by Black Friday morning, it did pick back up in the evening based on TheStreet’s visits to several J.C. Penney locations.
