Traffic at U.S. retail stores on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, dropped 28.3% compared with 2019 levels, as Americans shifted more of their spending online and started their shopping earlier this year, according to preliminary data from Sensormatic Solutions.
However, retail traffic was up 47.5% this year compared with the level a year ago (2020) when COVID-19 was still raging. This time last year, many shoppers stayed at home due to fears around the coronavirus pandemic and as retailers were still operating on reduced hours.
On Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., visits to brick-and-mortar stores cratered 90.4% from 2019 levels, Sensormatic found. Retailers such as Target, Walmart and Best Buy opted to keep their doors closed to customers on the holiday. Target has said it will be a permanent shift.
Online, retailers rang up $8.9 billion U.S. in sales on Black Friday, down from the record of about $9 billion U.S. spent on the Friday after Thanksgiving last year. It marked the first time ever that growth reversed from the previous year.
On Thanksgiving Day, consumers spent $5.1 billion U.S. on the internet, flat from year-ago levels.
The numbers provide even greater evidence that the holiday season has been stretched out as more Americans began their holiday shopping in October. According to a survey from the National Retail Federation, the retail industry’s leading trade group, 61% of consumers had already started purchasing holiday gifts before Thanksgiving.
Adobe Analytics is forecasting e-commerce sales on Cyber Monday (November 29), the biggest online shopping day of the year, to be in between $10.2 billion U.S. and $11.3 billion U.S.
Shoppers can expect to find a variety of items out of stock, however, as supply chain complications have snarled inventory levels for some companies.
According to Adobe, out-of-stock messages on retailers’ websites are up 124% through Friday versus pre-pandemic levels. Appliances, electronics, and home and garden items have the largest stock-out rates.
The National Retail Federation expects holiday sales during November and December to rise between 8.5% and 10.5%, for a total of between $843.4 billion U.S. and $859 billion U.S. of sales, which would set a record for year-over-year growth.
