ShopperTrak: ‘Black Weekend’ sales look good

Chicago -- When compared to “Black Weekend” last year, brick-and-mortar retail sales between Thanksgiving and Sunday, Dec. 1 increased 1% as shoppers spent an estimated total of $22.2 billion across the four days. However, retail shopper traffic decreased by 4%, to an estimated 1.8 billion store visits, according to new data from ShopperTrak.



ShopperTrak analysis also indicates that total in-store shopper traffic increased by 9.4% in the apparel sector, while traffic in the electronics sector decreased by 6.5% for that same time period. ShopperTrak estimates that in-store shopper traffic and sales by region, compared to Thanksgiving Day through Black Sunday of 2012, changed as follows:



Regional Traffic:



Midwest: decreased 5.4%

Northeast: decreased 9.8%

South: decreased 2.3%

West: no change



Regional Sales:



Midwest: decreased 2.9%

Northeast: decreased 1.0%

South: increased 1.8%

West: increased 5.5%



“Retailers stretched Black Friday deals and promotions across November removing the focus from just one big day of shopping,” said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak founder. “Shoppers, in turn, paced themselves. They spread their shopping and spending not just across the holiday weekend, but also into the days and weeks before it, contributing to a decrease in last weekend¹s shopper traffic. Customers also researched store merchandise online first and more often came to stores ready to buy particular products.