RetailNext: Friday Halloween negatively affects Saturday store sales

San Jose. Calif. –- Halloween fell on a Friday this year, producing a negative “Hollow Halloween” effect on store sales on Saturday, Nov. 1,according to analysis from RetailNext.Stores needed to make several quick changes--not only store fixtures and merchandise, but also to traffic-generating activities to transition into the holiday period. This, combined with consumers recovering from the previous evening’s celebration, dampened year-over-year sales compared to the same Saturday in 2013.



Specifically, store sales declined 7.8% on Saturday, Nov. 1, and store traffic dropped 10%. Transactions fell 10.1%, although conversion rate stood out as rising 0.4%. In other good news, returns fell 0.7%, while average transaction value rose 2.4% and sales per store climbed 2.6%.