According to the National Retail Federation’s 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year. (All data is for Thurs-Sun; Sunday’s numbers are estimated.) Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend, up 7.2% over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41.0 billion total for stores and websites.
What Does This Mean?
While encouraging, it is too early to say this signals the start of a bright holiday season for retailers. “Pent-up demand on electronics and clothing, plus unparalleled bargains on this season’s hottest items helped drive shopping all weekend,” said
NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Holiday sales are not expected to continue at this brisk pace, but it is encouraging that Americans seem excited to go shopping again.”
Where, When and How
Following tradition, Friday continued to be the busiest day of the weekend, with 73.6 million shoppers visiting stores and websites that day. Almost 50% more people shopped on Thanksgiving Day this year (16.2 million up from 10.9 million last year) as that day continues to rise in shopping importance.
Shoppers were out early on Friday looking for doorbuster bargains. 23.3% of shoppers were at stores by 5am, and more than half (57.6%) were at stores by 9am. Discount stores were the most popular destination, with 54.7% of shoppers visiting them.
Only 36% of shoppers visited specialty stores this weekend (craft stores fall into this survey category, along with clothing and toy stores). This was a significant decline from 43.2% of shoppers in 2007. People with household incomes over $50k, or in the 18-34 age group were most likely to visit a specialty store. Shoppers over age 55, or with incomes under $50k were least likely to visit a specialty store.
Women spent on average less then men over the weekend ($333.80 vs. $413.50). More of that amount was spent online by men then by women ($142.66 vs. $93.26). Average spending was highest in the Northeast ($397.31) and South ($394.71) and lowest in the West ($314.06), with the Midwest ($359.48) falling in between.
Forecasting Cyber Monday
The National Retail Federation’s Shop.org division asked consumers in a survey whether they planned to shop online on “Cyber Monday”. 37.2% of survey respondents said that they had online shopping plans for Monday, with men slightly more likely then women to plan to shop that day (38.5% vs. 35.9%). This translates into almost 85 million shoppers planning on clicking into online stores on Monday.
Over half – 55.8% – of employees with internet access at work said they plan to shop from work on Cyber Monday. This is a significant increase from 2005, when only 44.7% (59 million) had plans to do so. Men are slightly more likely then women to plan to shop on Cyber Monday (38.5% vs. 35.9%). Consumers with incomes over $50k or aged 18-34 are most likely to participate in Cyber Monday. Those over aged 55 or with incomes under $50k are least likely to shop that day.
What kind of bargains will consumers expect to find on Cyber Monday? According to the Shop.org eHoliday Survey, conducted by Shopzilla, 83.7% of retailers will have a special promotion for Cyber Monday, up from 72.2% last year. The most popular promotions are expected to be specific deals (38.8%), email campaigns (32.7%), and one-day sales (24.5%). Additionally, nearly one-fourth of retailers (22.5%) will offer free shipping on all purchases.
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