Thursday, December 4, 2008

Black Friday Traffic

I realize that I had spoken about my experience on Black Friday, but a question that I came to wonder was how well the other stores around the nation did on what they use to say is the busiest shopping day of the year, other than the day before Christmas.
I read an article from WWD, concerning retailers on Black Friday and what were the outcomes. Let me first say, that similar to our store, retailers were unsure of what was exppected, considering the current trickling economy. Therefore, stores prepared for the worst, and decided to offer the most, and what I have got to say, the "KINDEST" bargains. Obviously stores did this in order to get some form of foot traffic into their stores in order to make up some of the losses these past selling weeks.
Some examples of promotions and discounts offered:
Neiman Marcus - 50 to 65% percent off fall and holiday fashions.
Ann Taylor featured $30 off cashmere sweaters, 25 percent off outerwear and sale items, in addition to 20 percent off entire purchases through noon.
Apple, which rarely discounts, held a one-day sale Saturday
"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. And this being proven with my experience last weekend. As we can see, stores were just so generous in order to get customers to come and shop. But it was stated that in no way will the discounts and promotions continue at such a high rate throughout the Holiday season. Although, we still see some sort of promotions in order to get some traffic through the doors, especially high-end retailers.
But it is quite a surprise for retailers how well Black Friday turned out. It was stated that "Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 last weekend, up 7.2 percent over last year’s $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41 billion."
Now, the concerns in which they are looking at, is in the light of the recession, will the amount of Christmas shoppers decline again, especially due to the lack of high bargains that we saw this past weekend. It is definitely a "sit and wait" moment, to see what retailers are planning to do. Some high-end, tourist attraction retailers in major cities, such as New York are worried, about whether or not the tourism will also decline. The price of gas may be down, but it is only expected to get worst than get better.

2 comments:

Kandy said...

I was shocked how much money was spent this year--more then last, even though the economy is in the dumps. Maybe- because we are all so tight on money -we figured that we should shop when the prices are lowest, Black Friday? Interesting. I also worked in retail that Friday- and I was shocked that the attitude of the customers was friendlier then expected. But obviously that wasn't everywhere--that man was trampled to death! That was terrible and I can't believe it happened! Anyways glad you wrote about Black friday- much to be said. ;)

Paris said...

i spent a lot of money on black friday this year, more than I thought that I would spend. It was jam packed in the store surprisingly. It wasnt as pack as it normally is every year, and the sales were good, but not as great as they normally are. I think that it was a success given the current state of the economy right now. I think this was a good topic to write about, and you had some really good points.