'Black Friday' online sales up 1 % |
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'Black Friday' online sales up 1 %
Online sales inched up just 1 percent on "Black Friday" as compared to the same day last year, according to numbers released today by comScore. It found that $534 million was spent on online purchases Friday, which compares to $531 million last year.The report also noted that $10.41 billion has been spent online during the holiday shopping season to date, which is a 4 percent decline compared to the same period last year. (See comScore chart below.)
“It’s probable that on Black Friday consumers responded positively to the very aggressive promotions and discounts being offered in retail stores, so it will be important to see how they respond to similarly attractive deals being offered online on Cyber Monday, the traditional kick-off to the online holiday shopping season," said comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni in a statement.
ComScore has projected that online retail sales will be relatively flat compared to last year. Meanwhile, the National Retail Federation reports that an estimated 172 million shoppers visited retail stores and Web sites over the weekend, which compares to 147 million shoppers last year. It also found that people were spending an average of $372.57, up 7.2 percent. The NRF expects holiday retail sales to increase 2.2 percent this year.
Mercent Chief Executive Eric Best -- whose Seattle company sells tools to help retailers sell goods on Amazon and other sites -- believes that shoppers are still buying though they are looking for deals.
"The theme of the holiday is that value shopping is winning the day," said Best.
Because the Thanksgiving holiday occurs late this year, Best said that holiday shopping season is shortened. And that leads him to believe that some shoppers may wait for discounts after the holiday to purchase big ticket items. Best, for one, said he has been watching prices drop by nearly half on a 60" flat panel TV.
"I don't have a lot of incentive to go buy it before Dec. 25," said Best, who thinks prices may fall further after the holiday. "It is self fulfilling, the better the deals are, the more incentive provided for consumers to wait."
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