Americans spent $12.10 billion in retail chains on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a decrease from $12.29 billion during the same two days last year, according to ShopperTrak data, while online sales saw a significant increase.
Despite the decline in retail sales, the analytics firm maintains its estimates that sales in the U.S. in November and December will be 2.4 percent higher than in the same period last year.
ShopperTrak also points out that it has changed its data processing methods this year, so it cannot accurately determine the percentage decline in store sales on Thanksgiving and ‘Black Friday‘. The analytics firm RetailNext, on the other hand, reported that store sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday fell by 1.5 percent, while average spending per customer slipped by 1.4 percent. Data from analytics firms indicate a decline in the significance of Black Friday, which until recently marked the beginning of the holiday shopping season, as more and more retail chains have opened their doors to customers on Thanksgiving evening in recent years. Last year, sales on Thanksgiving and Black Friday were disappointing, prompting retailers to introduce additional discounts in the following weeks to attract customers.
