Retail Sales Up, Store Shopper Traffic Down During "Black Weekend," Says ShopperTrak

CHICAGO, Dec. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Black Friday shopping is no longer a one-day event. With the promise of getting more value for their hard-earned dollars, shoppers spent a little more money holiday shopping from Thanksgiving Day through "Black Sunday" (Nov. 28 – Dec. 1) than they did last year.

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ShopperTrak, the leading provider of shopper analytics, estimates that, when compared to "Black Weekend" last year, brick-and-mortar retail sales increased 1.0 percent as shoppers spent an estimated total of $22.2 billion across the four days. Retail shopper traffic decreased by 4.0 percent, to an estimated 1.8 billion store visits.

Total in-store shopper traffic increased by 9.4 percent in the apparel sector, while traffic in the electronics sector decreased by 6.5 percent 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: 

"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 weekend's shopper traffic. Customers also researched store merchandise online first and more often came to stores ready to buy particular products."

During "Black Weekend" 2012, shoppers spent $22 billion, compared to this year's estimate of $22.2 billion. Thanksgiving Day accounted for 10.0 percent of the four-day weekend's retail traffic in 2013. Though combined Thursday and Friday's sales and traffic increased when compared to last year, both Saturday and Sunday saw store traffic and sales tail off and drop.

View or download a "Black Weekend" infographic with retail store traffic and sales data from ShopperTrak via this link: http://bit.ly/18d6Rv9

ShopperTrak will release its next series of holiday retail store traffic data on the following dates:

About ShopperTrak

ShopperTrak is the leading global provider of shopper insights and analytics to improve retail profitability and effectiveness. Retailers rely on ShopperTrak for the most comprehensive and integrated solution for accurate retail store traffic counting, interior analytics and industry benchmarking to better understand in-store shopper behavior. More than 750 of the world's leading retail brands have ShopperTrak services deployed in over 60,000 locations across 90 countries and territories. The Chicago-based company has more than 200 employees, with offices in San Francisco; High Wycombe, England; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Shenzhen, China; and Helsinki, Finland. Find out more at http://www.shoppertrak.com.

SOURCE ShopperTrak