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Black Friday Shoppers Go Online

While brick-and-mortar retail sales rose slightly on the traditional day-after-Thanksgiving “Black Friday” holiday shopping kickoff, online sales experienced a substantially higher increase.

According to retail data analysis firm ShopperTrak RCT Corporation, U.S. in-store retail sales on Friday, Nov. 27, grew 0.5% compared to last Black Friday. In dollar figures, Black Friday spending increased from $10.606 billion in 2008 to $10.66 billion in 009. However, Black Friday 2008 featured a 3% growth rate from Black Friday 2007, when brick-and-mortar spending totaled approximately $10.3 billion.

ShopperTrak said Black Friday store traffic was heavy early in the morning, when retailers offered extra-steep “doorbuster” discounts, and gradually tapered off during the day. The company predicts further traffic analysis will demonstrate that strong customer traffic early on Saturday, November 28 fell off later in the day and continued weakening on Sunday, November 29.

The National Retail Federation (NRF) says heavier customer traffic helped compensate for a decline in average Black Friday spending per customer. According to the NRF, a total of 195 million customers visited stores between Thursday, November 26 and Sunday, November 29. This represents a 13.3% increase from the 172 million brick-and-mortar customers the NRF tracked during the equivalent four-day period last year.

However, the NRF says average spending per customer dropped 7.8%, from $372.57 in 2008 to $343.31 in 2009. The NRF estimates total Black Friday weekend spending this year at $41.2 billion, a 0.4% increase from $41 billion last year.

As opposed to slightly improved brick-and-mortar sales, e-commerce sales substantially grew on Black Friday this year. According to digital marketing intelligence firm comScore, U.S. consumers spent $595 million online during Black Friday 2009. This was an 11% increase from $534 million spent online during Black Friday 2008.

comScore tracked five retailers having more than 4 million unique visitors to their sites on Black Friday this year. In order of popularity, they were Amazon.com, Wal-Mart, Apple.com, Target, and Best Buy. In terms of growth in unique online visitors compared to last year, Apple.com reported 39%, followed by Amazon (28%), Best Buy (24%), Wal-Mart (22%), and Target (2%).

If Black Friday is an accurate bellwether for the entire 2009 holiday shopping season, then a general consensus this will be a flat year overall with online growth should prove accurate. Major research firms including The Nielsen Company, Retail Forward, and Deloitte are all forecasting flat holiday sales this year. The NRF is predicting a 1% decline, writes Retailer Daily.