Tag Archives: ShopperTrak

Disappointed Retailers Lamenting Poor Black Friday Performance

Crowd Outside Macy's on Black Friday 2013
Crowd Outside Macy’s on Black Friday 2013

For the first time in seven years post-Thanksgiving Day weekend, pre-holiday retail sales dropped in what analysts say is a reflection of lack of confidence by consumers in the US economy and wages that are going nowhere.

Black Friday sales were only able to reach $57.4 billion for the weekend, about $1.7 billion short of Black Friday sales for 2012. The average shopper spent $407.02 this year, compared to $423.55 last year.

ShopperTrak, a market research company, says that, despite many stores being open on Thursday, including Macy’s for the first time, actual foot traffic to stores was down by 11 percent while sales fell by 13 percent on Thursday.

Now retailers have set their sights on Cyber Monday, the big online shopping day, hoping that shopping on that day will make up for the anemic shopping on Thursday.

“We expect Cyber Monday to be bigger than ever,” said National Retail Federation’s Matthew Shay.