Hey! Did you know it was Black Friday last week? And that it's Cyber Monday today?
How could you not, with the breathless media coverage and the ceaseless email promotions and the holiday music that is now permeating the public sphere. But the question is: Did people spend on Black Friday?
Well, sort of: Total Black Friday sales edged up a scant $200 mil to $41.2 billion. BUT that's due to an increased volume of shoppers, not an increased rise in per-shopper spending. More people came out over the weekend -- 195 million shoppers, or 13% more than last year -- spending per shopper dropped 8% to $343.31. ("More Shoppers Hit Stores, But Spend Less Each," WSJ, Nov 30, 09) What this suggests: more people came out for bargains, and their definition of "bargain" is stricter than it used to be.
Also of note: Although total Black Friday sales hit $41.2 bil, online shopping only accounted for $913 mil -- or 2% of the total haul. It's not clear why just yet: I will be interested to see if Cyber Monday and Free Shipping Day on December 17 generate more sales. But my general sense going into this season is that e-commerce is still primarily a niche option for most holiday shoppers. It would be interesting to find out why.
[Interesting: the average online order jumped 35% to $170.19, people bought more items per order, and they did less window-shopping in favor of very specific items. Are we looking at leading-edge bargain hunters?]
You'll all be relieved to know that nobody lost their life at the hands of greedy Wal-Mart shoppers this year, although a Wal-Mart in Upland, CA, closed down in the face of savage crowds for a bit.
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