Preliminary figures show Black Friday weekend store sales down, online spending up

Wilson said she found Friday’s deals were still available Sunday.

“This year, we saw Black Friday ads emerge before Halloween, as retailers aimed to get at the shopper’s wallet early”, said Kevin Kearns, ShopperTrak chief revenue officer. Cyber Monday sales are expected to hit the $3 billion mark for the first time this year. Retailers this year also offered deals before and after Thanksgiving, softening the impact of Black Friday specials.

Meanwhile, there is “a broad and deep expectation” among shoppers that sales and promotions will continue far beyond Black Friday, and less of an imperative to spend over the weekend, Shay said. That figure, which accounts for the overlap between online and offline buyers, topped the 136 million that the trade group had predicted.

“Shopping has changed and the consumer has changed and retailers have changed”, Shay said. Brick-and-mortar retail sales totals declined while online sales saw a spike in consumers. NRF’s Thanksgiving weekend survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, showed that 103 million people shopped online over the weekend, reflecting a shift in shopping behavior.

NRFs 2015 Thanksgiving weekend survey, including the spending amount, are not comparable to last years survey as the methodology has changed, it says.

Last week we asked where you were going to be doing your Black Friday shopping. The NRF dropped the total spending projection from this year’s survey. ShopperTrak estimated a decrease from a year ago to a total of $12.1 billion. And, as studies of this past weekend show, the importance of online and mobile shopping and mobile shoppers has never been clearer.

A more accurate measure of holiday spending will not be available until the Department of Commerce releases retail spending figures next month for November, and for December in January.

Of those who shopped in a store over the long weekend, 73 percent said they went on Black Friday, 34 percent said they shopped Thanksgiving Day, and 46 percent on Saturday. Frenzied consumers still line up in front of stores to take advantage of deals on toys and televisions, but crowds were smaller at many USA malls Friday. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT – Analyst Report) was offering a 50-inch Samsung smart TV for $500.

But in 2014, the average person who shopped spent $380.95 compared to $407.02 a year earlier in 2013.

But it said it expects that pent-up consumer demand and low gasoline prices will boost this year’s holiday spending in the U.S.by 3.7 per cent. That’s a slowdown from last year’s 4.1 percent gain, but above the 2.5 percent average over the past 10 years. He said sales were strong in items such as active apparel, women’s dresses, handbags and cosmetics gift sets. The demonstrations, dubbed Black Out Black Friday and Not One Dime, were sparked by high-profile police brutality cases, including the fatal shooting of a Black Chicago teenager by a White cop.