Date 11-26-2007
More than 147 million shoppers hit the stores on Black Friday Weekend
According to the National Retail Federation's 2007 Black Friday Weekend Survey conducted by BIGresearch, 4.8% additional shoppers hit the stores on the Black Friday weekend from last year. The report states that more than 147 million consumers shopped this weekend.
The average consumer spending stood at $347.44, a 3.5% reduction from last year. Although the average expenditure was low, retailers balanced it up with this year's increased traffic. With retailers opening their shops earlier than ever, nearly 14.3% shoppers were out shopping before 4:00 a.m., as compared to 12.4% last year.
Of those surveyed, 55.1% visited discount stores (an increase of 5.5% from last year), 38.7% shopped from traditional department stores, 43.2% from specialty retailers, and 31.6% shopped online. Among the most popular items purchased, clothing or clothing accessories topped the list (46.8%). Other popular items include books, CDs, DVDs, videos, or video games (41.7%); consumer electronics (35.7%); toys (28.2%); and gift cards (21.0%).
The exact results of holiday sales are expected to be announced by the last two weeks of December. National Retail Federation (NRF) has projected a rise of 4.0% in holiday sales for the coming year to reach $474.5 billion.
The survey polled 2,395 consumers and was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from November 22-24, 2007. Click here to view the complete survey results.
(Source: National Retail Federation's 2007 Black Friday Weekend Survey) |