NRF Survey: Black Friday A Success

December 1, 2008  by in UnCategorized   

By Home Furnishings Business in on December 2008 Retailers had an extra day of Thanksgiving this year as results rolled in from “Black Friday”—the day after Thanksgiving and the traditional start to the holiday shopping season. According to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and Web sites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year.

Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend, up 7.2 percent over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41 billion. 

“Pent-up demand on electronics and clothing, plus unparalleled bargains on this season’s hottest items, helped drive shopping all weekend,” said NRF president and CEO Tracy Mullin. “Holiday sales are not expected to continue at this brisk pace, but it is encouraging that Americans seem excited to go shopping again.” 

Friday was clearly the busiest day of the weekend, with 73.6 million people hitting stores and Web sites for doorbuster sales. Though traffic did subside after Friday, retailers were also buoyed by two-day sales as 56.9 million people shopped on Saturday, up from 48.3 million last year, while another 26.2 million people planned to shop on Sunday. Thanksgiving Day also continues to increase in importance as the number of people who shopped on Thursday was up 48 percent over last year (16.2 million people vs. 10.9 million people). 

According to the findings, Americans have completed slightly more shopping than they had one year ago (39.3 percent vs. 36.4 percent), indicating that traffic and sales over the next several weeks will be moderate. 

“Though retailers should be encouraged by strong traffic and sales over the weekend, consumers are still being cautious,” said Phil Rist, executive vice president, strategic initiatives, BIGresearch. “Weekend shoppers indicated that they are still sticking to a budget and thinking carefully before making any holiday purchases.” 

Though retailers in all categories were featuring big bargains, a majority of shoppers visited discount stores for holiday deals. According to the survey, more than half (54.7 percent) of this weekend’s shoppers visited discount stores. Nearly half (43 percent) shopped at a traditional department store, up 11.1 percent from 38.7 percent last year. About one-third of shoppers visited specialty stores like clothing or electronics stores (36 percent) and shopped online (34 percent). 

NRF continues to project that holiday sales will rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion.  

The NRF 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey defines the weekend as sales from Thursday, Nov. 27, to Sunday, Nov. 30. The survey, which polled 3,370 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch Nov. 27–29. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percent.