It is too early to stick a fork in it, but things sure seemed quiet this year.
Despite previous years’ fights and retail mayhem, we went silent in 2021.. yes the pandemic. We know. But even with that said, a semblance of a return to “normal” tried to occur before the omicron outbreak started in South Africa.. and even with that, these numbers:
- Traffic at retail stores on Black Friday dropped 28.3% compared with 2019 levels, according to preliminary data from Sensormatic Solutions.
- Traffic was up 47.5% compared with year-ago levels, Sensormatic said.
- “It’s clear shoppers are shopping earlier this season, just as they did last season,” said Brian Field, senior director of global retail consulting at Sensormatic.
- Online, retailers rang up $8.9 billion in sales on Black Friday, down from the record of about $9 billion spent on the Friday after Thanksgiving a year earlier, according to data from Adobe Analytics.
Retail watchers say that the “consumers,” as they refer to the huddled massive of bargain basement shoppers, are starting to browse earlier.. online retail is going to soon far outweigh the brick and mortar..
Stores being closed had an impact as well..
On Thanksgiving day, visits to brick-and-mortar stores cratered 90.4% from 2019 levels, Sensormatic found. Retailers including Target, Walmart and Best Buy opted to keep their doors closed to customers on the holiday. Target has said it will be a permanent shift.