Black Friday shopping at brick-and-mortar stores in the United States was down about 7 percent from a year ago, according to ShopperTrak, but more purchases on Thanksgiving Day nearly made up the difference. Meanwhile, online retailers recorded double-digit year-on-year increases in sales.
ShopperTrak says Friday store sales hit $9.1 billion, but that shoppers spent $3.2 billion on Thanksgiving — a 24 percent increase for sales on that day from over last year. Overall, it represented a 0.5 percent drop from last year.
The New York Times says: "ShopperTrak, a consumer analytics firm based in Chicago, warned that its estimates were preliminary, and that shifting spending patterns meant that holiday sales were now dispersed over a longer period. Retailers have been offering deep discounts well before their sales on Friday, and many stores moved the start of those offers to Thursday evening."
A separate survey by IBM showed a 9.5 percent jump on Black Friday and a 14.3 percent increase on Thanksgiving Day for online sales over the same period last year.
Amazon.com saw a 24 percent increase in sales over the two days and it predicts that its Cyber Monday sales will show an even bigger increase.
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