The National Retail Federation forecasts November-December holiday sales season sales of $617 billion – a rise of 4.1 percent on the same period of 2013.
U.S. consumers opened their pocketbooks to the tune of $9.1 billion on purchases at stores on Black Friday – a fall of 7 percent from the same day last year.
But sales on Thanksgiving Day roared ahead – up 24 percent on the year to $3.2 billion. As a result, sales overall for the two days were largely flat on the year – down just 0.5 percent on last year at $12.3 billion.
Data research firmShopperTrak reported that for the second year running, shoppers chose to shop on Thanksgiving Day in order to avoid the crowded Black Friday stores, with many large retailers opening for longer on Thanksgiving Day.
"People are changing their behavior. We've seen this for two years in a row now. Stores opening on Thanksgiving are simply eroding sales from Black Friday," commented ShopperTrak co-founder, Bill Martin.
“There is a significant amount of energy left in the consumer." And more big shopping days remain, including the final Saturday before Christmas, typically the biggest shopping day of the year.
In an online sales report, IBM said that Thanksgiving Day sales soared 14.3 percent on a year before, while for Black Friday they jumped 9.5 percent. Of special note was the fact that in excess of 25 percent of transactions were made using a smartphone or tablet.
