A RELEASE from the National Retail Foundation (NRF) states that sales for this year’s Black Friday saw an 11 percent drop compared to those in 2013.
Consumers spent a total of $50.9 billion this past weekend, down from last year’s $57.4 billion.
On average, US shoppers spent $380.95 per person, 6.4 percent less than the $407.02 last year.
Michael Shay, president and chief executive officer of the NRF, said the decline this year is attributable to multiple factors.
“A strengthening economy that changes consumers’ reliance on deep discounts, a highly competitive environment, early promotions and the ability to shop 24/7 online all contributed to the shift witnessed this weekend,” he said in a statement.
Shay also said the figures could indicate that “there are a significant number of Americans out there for whom the recession is not over.”
Another possible reason for the drop may be because Black Friday is not as appealing as it used to be.
“The Black Friday hype has come and mostly gone,” Ken Perkins, founder of industry research company Retail Metrics, told The New York Times, because of “significant changes to the way consumers shopped, retailers promoted and the general importance of the day itself.”
Perkins also said that 50 to 70 percent off discounts are becoming normal.
“These deeper discounts are an absolutely necessary entry cost to get consumers into stores and onto websites,” he said. “Deep discounts make it more difficult, however, to generate robust sales growth as more unit sales are required to make up for steep price cuts.”
Gerald Storch, CEO of consulting firm Storch Advisors, told CNBC the figure released by the NRF are probably inaccurate. He also said that data gathered to come up with this number came from what individuals self-reported they spent halfway through the weekend and what they expected to spend for the rest of it.
“I don’t believe any way whatsoever sales were down 11 percent over the weekend,” he said. “That number is a bad outlier.”
Storch believes sales went up both in stores and online.
A report from ShopperTrak, a research firm, states that sales at physical stores on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday this year were at $12.29 billion, down from $12.35 billion in 2013.
CNBC reports that ShopperTrak relies on reports from retailers rather than consumer polling.
Despite reports of overall decline, Storch told CNBC that online shopping grew rapidly this year.
(With reports from BBC, CNBC, Reuters and The New York Times)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek December 3-5, 2014 Sec. B pg.1)
