For those of you (particularly my overseas readers) who may not know, "Black Friday" refers to the day following Thanksgiving and signifies the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.The importance of a strong holiday shopping season is not to be underestimated as it will set the tone (and hopefully a confident one) for retail growth - and hence manufacturing and economic growth - for the coming year.
According to a National Retail Federation survey:
- across the nation 138 million shoppers will be hitting the stores this weekend.
- 2010 holiday sales are projected to rise 2.3% from 2009. (for some context, 2009 sales were up a mere 0.4% over 2008; 2008 sales were down 3.9% from 2007; on average over the last ten years holiday sales have increased 2.45% per year)
- For some retailers, the holiday season can represent anywhere between 25-40% of annual sales. In 2009, holiday sales represented 19.1% of total retail industry sales. Jewelry stores have the most at stake; last year, holiday sales represented 29.5% of jewelry stores’ annual sales.
p.s. Oh by Dickens! I almost forgot - Happy Holidays to all!
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OK.. the results are in and here they are:
1. Associated Press) Shoppers crowded stores on Black Friday but spent only a little more than last year on the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. Retail sales rose a slight 0.3 percent compared with the day after Thanksgiving last year. The slim increase came despite a 2.2 percent boost in store traffic.
2. Online sales were up 15.9% from a year ago as shoppers spent more money and bought more holiday gifts online.
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