More shoppers hit stores, but spend less than last year

Alchemist

More shoppers hit stores, but spend less than last year

Nov. 29, 2009, 3:57 p.m. EST

By MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- More Americans hit the stores during Black Friday and the rest of the holiday-shopping weekend, but they spent less than they did last year, a retail-trade group said Sunday.

The National Retail Federation's survey, conducted over the weekend, found that 195 million shoppers visited stores and Web sites, up from 172 million last year, but the average spent was about $343, down from about $373 a year ago. For the weekend, the total spending figure is an estimated $41.2 billion.

"While retailers are encouraged by the number of Americans who shopped over Black Friday weekend, they know they have their work cut out for them to keep people coming back through Christmas," said Tracy Mullin, NRF president and chief executive. "Shoppers can continue to expect retailers to focus on low prices and bargains through the end of December."

Almost half of holiday shoppers visited at least one department store over the weekend, which is up 13% from last year. About 43% headed to discount retailers and another 8% headed to outlets, the NRF added. More than a fourth of shoppers went online for their potential purchases.

More shoppers also started their expeditions early, with 31% in the doors by 5 a.m., as opposed to 23% who did the same last year. "High unemployment and a focus on price caused shoppers to visit stores early in anticipation of the best deals," said Phil Rist, executive vice president at BIGresearch, which conducted the survey.

The most popular buys were of clothing and books, at levels similar to last year's, the survey said. Almost a third of shoppers bought toys, up 13% from a year ago, and more people picked up personal care and beauty items, as well as gift cards and sporting goods.
Cyber Monday and more

Also regarding Black Friday, it was the second-heaviest day in online spending to date in 2009 with $595 million in online sales, comScore Inc. said Sunday.

That's 11% higher than last year's Friday after Thanksgiving. The actual holiday saw 10% higher e-commerce sales, totaling $318 million, comScore added.

The National Retail Federation also announced Sunday that more Americans will go online to do holiday shopping on the Monday after the Black Friday weekend than they did last year.

On so-called Cyber Monday, 96.5 million people plan to shop, up from 85 million a year ago, the retail-trade group said citing a Shop.org survey. Nine in 10 retailers also will have special deals and promotions for Cyber Monday, the survey said.

In addition, a majority of the planned shopping is to be done from home, with 14% done from work. At some point during the holiday season, an estimated 69 million Americans will shop from work, a Shop.org survey said last week.

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