A move by US retailers to extend hours on Thanksgiving took a toll on 'Black Friday' traffic in the US, without spurring total sales over both days, according to research firm ShopperTrak.
While store traffic climbed 27 per cent on Thanksgiving compared with a year earlier, it dropped 5.6 per cent the next day, which has traditionally served as the kickoff to the holiday shopping season. Sales on both Thursday and Friday totalled $12.29 billion, Chicago-based ShopperTrak estimated in a report, down 0.5 per cent from $12.35 billion in the same two-day period last year.
The slow start raises concerns about retailers being able to hit sales targets following a sluggish season in 2013. The National Retail Federation had predicted a 4.1 per cent sales gain for November and December - an increase that would represent the best performance since 2011.
Still, 'Black Friday' weekend sales aren’t necessarily an indicator of how the rest of the season will go, ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin said.
“We need to be cautious about looking at a single day or two in projecting the season’s total,” he said in a statement. “There is a significant amount of energy left in the consumer.”
For retailers, the numbers make it hard to tell if they got a payoff from opening earlier on Thanksgiving evening - a move that raised hackles among workers and activists. JC Penney opened at 5 p.m. on the holiday, compared with 8pm in 2013. Macy’s and Target opened at 6pm, two hours earlier than last year.
Protesters objected to stores operating during what was once a commerce-free holiday, while workers complained that the longer hours made it harder for them to schedule time with their families. Petitions calling on retailers to stay closed on Thanksgiving drew hundreds of thousands of signatures on Change.org.
Whole Foods Market said it would pay double time on Thanksgiving this year and make holidays shifts voluntary. Workers at two Chicago Whole Foods stores had demonstrated against mandatory holiday work last year.
Bloomberg News, edited by ESM
