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ShopperTrak: Store traffic, sales up on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday

December 2, 2013

With the allure of deep discounts, "door-buster" promotions and extended store hours, shoppers visited more stores and spent more money across the days of Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday (Nov. 28 and 29) than they did last year.

ShopperTrak, a provider of shopper analytics, estimates that when compared with Thanksgiving and Black Friday last year, brick-and-mortar shopper traffic increased 2.8 percent, to more than 1.07 billion store visits. Retail sales also increased by 2.3 percent, as shoppers spent an estimated total of $12.3 billion across the two days.

ShopperTrak estimates that total in-store shopper traffic and sales by region, compared with Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday in 2012, changed as follows:

Regional Traffic

• Midwest: increased 2.3 percent
• Northeast: decreased 5.0 percent
• South: increased 4.8 percent
• West: increased 6.9 percent

Regional Sales

• Midwest: increased 3.3 percent
• Northeast: decreased 7.0 percent
• South: increased 4.8 percent
• West: increased 6.0 percent

The numbers tell a very different story when viewing only data for Black Friday (Nov. 29). When compared with Black Friday last year, brick-and-mortar shopper traffic fell 11.4 percent and retail sales also decreased by 13.2 percent.

"The Black Friday shopping experience is changing with more shoppers choosing to go out on Thanksgiving Day," said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak founder. "Consumers increasingly research products online before entering stores. When they arrive, customers know exactly what they want to buy — retailers now need to make their experience a satisfying one."

Read more about consumer behavior.