This is Black Friday's official numbers

Via Reuters:

"NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. consumers turned out in strong numbers to hunt for holiday bargains on Black Friday, though many said they were spending selectively and industry executives questioned whether the momentum would last.

The Friday after U.S. Thanksgiving is often the busiest shopping day of the holiday season, which accounts for nearly one-fifth of the retail industry's annual sales.

This year retailers and investors are paying close attention to signs of a consumer comeback that could propel the economy, after the 2008 holiday season saw the worst sales performance in nearly four decades.

Retail analysts who hopped from mall to mall across the country on Friday saw larger crowds and said customers were toting more shopping bags than last year. Hot-ticket items included Zhu Zhu Pets toy hamsters, netbook computers and flat screen televisions."

Source

Sounds likeurely subjective reporting to me. When do the real numbers come out?

the real numbers will be reported later... but for now the early report is that sales were up 5% from last years'

Idyserenity... i heard the items that moved the most were
discounted clothing, electronics, toys.


[ i seen Wal-Mart selling hooded jackets of Flannel for $7, pants for $9,
but i refrained from joining the mayhem...i'll wait for Sun or until the January clearance for clothers and possibly a $200 LCD 42"
~Plazmas are still out of my reach~

This is pure bunk. So the numbers are up based on analysit going to malls and counting people carrying shopping bags. LOL. That is insane. That says nothing about how much was spent. It does make a difference if people are carrying bags from the dollar store or from macy's....most of the bags were probably all their worldy belongings and they were at the mall to get out of the cold. ;-)

The one indication that this was not a successful black friday is the lack of violence to snatch a furby.....in a good economy people die on black friday. That's all im saying.

From everything I've been reading it seems that consumers bought up the "deals" and as soon as those were gone, so were the consumers. To me, that does not seem to bode well for a bustling holiday retail season. Retailers shouldn't hold their breath... Consumers are still holding onto their money, if they have any.

ed: sp again





[edit on 28-11-2009 by LadySkadi]

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
Sounds likeurely subjective reporting to me. When do the real numbers come out?

Q4 profit announcements, which won't be until next year.

Any "reports" as of right now are trash and shouldn't be read .. last year they said the malls were flooded with people buying. buying. buying. And it ended up being one of the worst christmases ever for many companies.

One day after "Black Friday" .. there is absolutely NO WAY they collected all sales information. Usually they go to the biggest Credit Card companies and ask for transactions totals for certain days to come up with these numbers .. but they are very, very shady numbers.

You also have to keep in mind that last year, the uncertainty about the financial crisis was much worse than it is this year, due to the fact that the Media has recently been touting that the Recession is now over! So an uptick of 5% over last year, is inherently possible, based upon sentiment and perceived uncertainty.

However, the fundamentals have not improved, and Main Street is much worse off now than it was a year ago. Holiday shopping is all about emotion and sentiment, and many people who may have cut back on expenditures last year out of uncertainty, may be over-compensating this year to make up.

Americans may very well indulge in one last shopping spree before the disaster of 2010 hits them in the face, and then they will wish they had saved that money for a rainy day.

Originally posted by Rockpuck
Any "reports" as of right now are trash and shouldn't be read .. last year they said the malls were flooded with people buying. buying. buying. And it ended up being one of the worst christmases ever for many companies.

Exactly the news never tells the truth in these cases, who owns the reuters, lol.

Typical corporate media crap.
The aggregate retail industry said months ago that they weren't going overboard on maintaining high inventory levels due to decreasing consumer spending and these bargain sales aren't going to do much to bolster profits for retailers.
Impulse spending from a stupid "tradition" pushed by the media puts most people deeper into debt which they can't pay anyway - usual story.
I'm curious what the banks must be thinking in terms of new waves of credit defaults coming up on top of the current credit crisis.
Now if manufacturing in the U.S. had been stimulated and the goods purchased it would help, but of course that couldn't happen

By the way, notice how the 'news headlines' currently is mostly Tiger Woods bad night cruise out of his driveway and the White House party crashers (as if anyone actually gives a hoot!).