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Black Friday Store Traffic, Sales Up in Most Regions
CHICAGO -- With the allure of deep discounts, "door-buster" promotions and extended store hours, shoppers visited more stores and spent more money across Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday than they did last year. Sales and traffic posted the lowest gain in the Midwest, ShopperTrak reports.
Compared to Thanksgiving and Black Friday last year, bricks-and-mortar shopper traffic rose 2.8% to more than 1.07 billion store visits, ShopperTrak says. Retail sales also increased 2.3% as shoppers spent an estimated $12.3 billion those two days.
Total in-store shopper traffic and sales by region compared to Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday in 2012, changed as follows:
Regional traffic, according to ShopperTrak:
- Traffic in the Midwest increased 2.3%, the lowest gain in the four regions. Traffic increased 4.8% in the South and 6.9% in the West but fell 5% in the Northeast.
- In terms of sales, the Midwest again posted the lowest increase at 3.3% compared with 4.8% in the South and 6% in the West. Here, too, a drop was experienced in the Northeast, 7%.
The numbers tell a different story, however, when one views only data for Black Friday, Nov. 29. When compared to Black Friday last year, bricks-and-mortar shopper traffic nationwide fell 11.4% and retail sales also decreased 13.2%.
"The Black Friday shopping experience is changing with more shoppers choosing to go out on Thanksgiving Day," explained Bill Martin, the founder of ShopperTrak. "Consumers increasingly research products online before entering stores. When they arrive, customers know exactly what they want to buy."
ShopperTrak is a provider of shopper insights and analytics to merchants.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.
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