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| Shoppers pick through stacks of discounted jeans beside a giant aquarium inside Bass Pro Shops after the doors opened at 5 a.m., kicking off "Black Friday" and the holiday shopping season in Memphis, Tenn. Friday Nov. 23, 2112.. Some bargain-hunters waited outside the store for four and a half hours in the rain for the chance to be first in line. For the first time many retailers opened as early as 8 p.m. on Thursday sparking some criticism for shortening their employees' Thanksgiving holiday. |
Thanksgiving shopping
took a noticeable bite out of Black Friday's start to the holiday
season, as the latest survey found retail sales in stores fell slightly
from last year.
Saturday's report from retail
technology company ShopperTrak finds consumers spent $11.2 billion at
stores across the U.S. That is down 1.8 percent from last year's total.
This
year's Friday results appear to have been tempered by hundreds of
thousands of shoppers hitting sales Thursday evening while still full of
Thanksgiving dinner. Retailers including Sears, Target and Wal-Mart got
their deals rolling as early as 8 p.m. on Turkey Day.
Online
shopping also may have cut into the take at brick-and-mortar stores:
IBM said online sales rose 17.4 percent on Thanksgiving and 20.7 percent
on Black Friday, compared with 2011.
Yet
ShopperTrak said retail foot traffic increased 3.5 percent, to more than
307.67 million store visits, indicating at least some shoppers were
browsing but not spending freely.
"Black
Friday continues to be an important day in retail," said ShopperTrak
founder Bill Martin. "This year, though, more retailers than last year
began their doorbuster deals on Thursday, Thanksgiving itself. So while
foot traffic did increase on Friday, those Thursday deals attracted some
of the spending that's usually meant for Friday."
The
company estimated that shopper foot traffic rose the most in the
Midwest, up 12.9 percent compared with last year. Traffic rose the
least, 7.6 percent, in the Northeast, parts of which are still
recovering from Superstorm Sandy.
ShopperTrak,
which counts foot traffic and its own proprietary sales numbers from
25,000 retail outlets across the U.S., had forecast Black Friday sales
would grow 3.8 percent this year, to $11.4 billion.
While
consumer confidence has been improving, many people are still worried
about the slow economic recovery, high unemployment and whether a
gridlocked Congress can avert tax increases and government spending cuts
- the so-called "fiscal cliff" - set to occur automatically in January.
And
some would-be shoppers said they weren't impressed with the discounts,
or that there wasn't enough inventory of the big door-busters.
"As
far as deals, they weren't there," said Tammy Stempel, 48, of
Gladstone, Ore. "But business have to be successful, too. I'm hoping
they extend the deals through December."
She
was waiting in line outside an Ikea in Portland on Saturday to buy pots
and pans for her 18-year old daughter - as a hint that it was time to
move out. Stemple and her husband went shopping at two Targets, Michaels
and other stores Friday, but failed to find any amazing deals, even on a
flat-screen TV they wanted for themselves.
Target,
Best Buy and other stores near the Ikea seemed to have few customers,
and traffic at the nearby Lloyd Center Mall also was light, even for a
normal weekend.
Many shoppers around the country were armed with iPads and smart phones, to check prices as well as buy.
Online auction and shoppping site eBay reported more the 2.5 times the number of mobile transactions as last year.
Online
retailers worked as hard as brick-and-mortar stores to draw customers,
sending each of their subscribers an average of 5.9 promotional emails
during the 7 days through Black Friday. That's an all-time high,
according to marketing software company Responsys.
IBM,
which tracks more than 1 million transactions at 500 online retailers
each day, said its data showed 24 percent of online shoppers used a
mobile device to check out a retailer's site and about 16 percent of
online purchases were made on a mobile device. But while total online
spending rose sharply, the value of the average online order dipped
about 5 percent to $181.22.
In spite of all
the TV reports showing shoppers carting away laptops and giant
flat-screen TVs, IBM said combined sales of consumer electronics,
printers and other office supplies were up only 8 percent, with average
order prices of $326.05.
Sales of appliances
and other home goods rose the most, up about 28 percent from Black
Friday last year. Clothing sales rose 17.5 percent, department store
sales grew just under 17 percent and sales of health and beauty products
rose 11 percent.
Despite the throngs in
stores Thursday night and Friday, many shoppers held off until Saturday,
hoping for shorter lines and less drama.
"I
can't deal with all that craziness," said Miguel Garcia, a 40-year-old
office coordinator who was at a Target in the Bronx, New York, on
Saturday. "Compared to what I saw on TV yesterday, this is so much
more
comfortable and relaxed. I can actually think straight and compare
prices."
Garcia was checking prices for phones
and tablets at various stores, and planned to delay any purchases until
Cyber Monday when he'd have a better sense of the best deals. As money
has gotten tighter over the years, Garcia said he comparison shops more.
"It forces you to become a good consumer," he said.
Tanya
Dunham, a 32-year-old patient coordinator representative, likewise
avoided the crowds on Black Friday and was shopping at the same Target
Saturday.
"I don't like to wait (in line) just to save $15 or $20," said Dunham.
For
the entire holiday sales season of November and December, ShopperTrak
has predicted sales should rise 3.3 percent over last year. Those two
months are crucial for retailers and can account for up to 40 percent of
stores' annual revenue.
