The retailers smiled their way during the just concluded weekend as Black Friday sales figures set the tone for a solid holiday season sales to come in. All eyes are on the results of weekend sales to gauge the impact of the various economic indicators that have been flooding the largest economy of the world that was threatening to play a spoilsport in the busy holiday season.
Thanks to the consumer confidence level, Black Friday started hitting the news even before the sales commenced, though for a different reason. The eagerness with which shoppers lined from midnight to take a slice of their share was obvious and much to the dislike of the retailers shopping began violently at least in the initial hours of shopping.
The Black Friday sales numbers echoed in the Asian and European markets too on Monday. For more than a week, one or the other negative news battered the markets badly. It was but natural that market men are pining for favorable news that could lift the sentiments. Strong Black Friday sales was the much-needed vitamin for the market to come from the slumber. True to the expectations, Black Friday sales continued its top-shopping day consecutively for the seventh year till 2010. The current year position will be known only after the seasonal sales are over.
The sales figures assumed significance in the wake of the U.S.'s second estimate of third quarter GDP recording 2 % rise at an annual rate, lower than its advance estimate of 2.5%. This has obviously ringed alarm bells of a possible recession looming large. But the latest consumer spending halted any such opinion at least for the short term.
NRF Take
The National Retail Federation's (NRF) survey of Black Friday sales touched a record $52.4 billion, representing 16% increase over the previous year Black Friday sales. The traffic too witnessed a 6.6% upside to 226 million shoppers and websites from 212 million in the year-ago period. Significantly, the average spent of shopper also grew 9% to $398.62 from $365.34, while average spending through the web increased 37.8% to $150.53 over last year. Online shoppers numbered 28.7 million, significantly higher than 22.2 million in the previous year.