Deep discounts on everything from sweaters to TVs drove U.S. shoppers out of hibernation for the Thanksgiving weekend, but the buying was tempered and sales for the traditional start of the holiday season appear, at best, in line with stores’ low expectations.
Retailers opened their stores as early as midnight Thursday, holding their breath wondering if shoppers would show up for the pre-dawn specials. But while the crowds did come out, analysts say they were thinner than last year and according to some accounts, business fell off sharply for the remainder of the weekend.
Shoppers were also focused on bargains and smaller-ticket practical items like blenders and video games, as they worry about layoffs, tightening credit and shrinking retirement funds.
Even online spending, once a bright spot in retailing, has been hit hard by economic woes in recent months. ComScore, an Internet research company, reported Sunday that online spending was up a modest 2% for the combined Thanksgiving Day and Friday, compared with the year-ago period.
New York City-based retail consultant Walter Loeb said he expects sales for the weekend to be below year-ago levels, based on discussions this weekend with key executives from discounters and department stores.
But he added: “It wasn’t as bad as some feared…People were buying but they bought cheap and the results were not as good.”
Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at market research firm NPD Group, which had a network of analysts at 53 mall locations across the country this weekend, said: “The holiday started off with some promise but quickly moved to concern.”
“It could have been a disaster but it wasn’t,” he said, noting he estimates the weekend’s sales were at best even with the same holiday weekend a year ago.
Karen MacDonald, a spokeswoman at Taubman Centers Inc., which operates 24 malls in 11 states, said based on a sampling of malls, business Friday was anywhere from unchanged to up mid-single digits. But on Saturday, sales were unchanged to down slightly.
Toys R Us chief executive Jerry Storch reported Sunday customer traffic was at least as strong this weekend as the Thanksgiving weekend a year ago and said he was “definitely pleased with sales.”
A more complete sales picture of how the Thanksgiving shopping weekend fared won’t be known until Thursday, when retailers report November same-store sales, or sales at stores opened at least a year.
According to preliminary figures released Saturday by ShopperTrak RCT, a research firm that tracks total retail sales at more than 50,000 outlets, sales rose 3% to $10.6 billion Friday from the Black Friday a year ago.
