RSSCan an upbeat 'Black Friday' help float 'Cyber Monday'?
By Scott M. Fulton, III | Published November 26, 2007, 10:18 AM
Despite some gloomy predictions for a bleak sales season, the early numbers from US retailers shows a robust post-Thanksgiving retail weekend.
The initial data from leading retail market intelligence firm ShopperTrak is encouraging: Retail sales for US stores on Friday, November 23 topped the $10 billion mark, coming in at $10.295 billion - up 8.3% over the previous year, and meeting that firm's expectations.
ShopperTrak's numbers come from reliable sources, sampling major participating stores across the country and balancing those trends against the US Commerce Dept.'s report on general merchandise sales, which includes consumer electronics. Last year's figures were characterized as strong, while 2005's Black Friday figures of $8.0 billion represented almost a one percent drop from the year before.
Online commerce analysis firm comScore followed those numbers up this morning with a report that online spending for the first 23 days of November -- leading up to Black Friday -- rose 17% over the prior year, to $9.3 billion. Thanksgiving day online sales then rose 29% over the prior year to $272 million, and Black Friday itself pulled in $531 million, up 22% annually.
Break those numbers down, however, and you find a different story: Last Thursday and Friday combined generated about 8.6% of the revenue from online sales as for the previous 23 days combined. And those last two days of the month constituted 8.6% of the time as the previous 23 days of the month - suggesting that online sales did not actually peak during the holidays.
With 28.6% better retail revenue from Black Friday this year than in 2005 -- a year that some had forecast strong and that ended up disappointing -- you might think the doomsayers have all been proven wrong.
But the dark lining still lurks within the proverbial silver cloud, and this time, the question concerns margins: With shipping costs rising due to much higher oil and gasoline prices nationwide, do these apparently brisk sales translate into higher profits for retailers, and thus for manufacturers?
This is where the ShopperTrak numbers can't provide much guidance. In fact, the firm warns against placing too many expectations upon early positive numbers, hinting at last year's holiday sales which dropped sharply following early gains. In 2006, after all the bargains were pretty much swept off the sales floors, later shoppers failed to follow up.
With today expected to be the heaviest online shopping day of the season, revenue from online sales may need to top $1 billion today for Cyber Monday to be a real contributor to the nation's economy.
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|Trans-fat too? Wouldn't want you getting in trouble with the FDA...
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|frankly, if your video isn't making you any disposiable money or doesn't make disposiable money for others if they watch it, then it may not be worthwhile for anyone to use their disposiable time watching it.
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|What has this got to do with the topic?
In the words of Doug and Bob Mckenzie, "Take off Hoser."
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|Heh...
Strange Brew. Now *that* was a classic.
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|THE REAL QUESTION IS DO YOU HAVE DISPOSABLE INCOME/ I HAD NONE BLACK MONDAY NOR BLACK FRIDAY. MOST PEOPLE HIT BOTH POSTIVELY ON THE ECONOMY. I AM SUPPORTING 30 ROCK AND THE WRITERS' STRIKE.PLEASE VIEW MY VIDEO AT http. videos. yahoo. com./video/play?vid=1511021
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|If it's lack of disposable income you're concerned about, perhaps you should write your local democrats and ask them kindly to stop voting for obnoxiously large spending bills they know will never be allowed to pass. :)
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|UNLIKE, BARACK O'BAMA,I CLAIM MY RIGHT TO BE A SEXY MODERATE DEMOCRAT! REMEMBER HOW HE DIDN'T LIKE BEING CALLED SEXY? FESS UP--WHAT DID YOU BUY FOR THE HOLIDAYS!
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|I'm curious how many of those dollar amounts are from Canadians crossing the border just to spend their now better valued currency. I heard a radio station report over the weekend indicating about 1 million canadians crossing over, I can't remember if it was through the Detroit area though.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/...iday_shopping_canadians
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|Did anyone honestly think it would be otherwise? Regardless of the constant media lies about our economy, consumer confidence and spending has been very good and continues to rise.
Couldn't have anything to do with the low unemployment and inflation rate; That would actually mean this administration had done something right. God Forbid anyone ever admit that.
Cue the Liberal FUD Machine in 3...2...
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|i must admit, i am very surprised to hear this as all you hear in the news is how bad the economy is.
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|Surprised? The "News" is nothing but a mouthpiece for the Liberal FUD Machine.
Pretty sad when you can no longer trust the Media to give you the facts and have to resort to going to the Consumer Price Index, and other various economy-related sites to get them (unless you can find a trustworthy site that gathers the info in one place and doesn't have any political bias or agenda --good luck).
It's an election year. The folks vying for power will do everything they can to make the current situation look grim so they can promise the sky without having to actually deliver anything.
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|Inflation? What inflation? All you have to do is strip any products that goes out in price off the formula, then you have next to no inflation. And this is what the government is doing now.
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|And it doesn't matter a whit when compared tot he very same numbers, calculated the very same way, from 10 years ago. :)
Your point? You can say you calculate inflation any way you want to but when you calculate the numbers the same way from 10 years ago, you will see the net result is much smaller increases in the last several than the jumps in the years prior.
Inflation doesn't actually decrease, the rate does. Yes, we're still paying more, but the rate at which we are paying more is much lower than it has been in previous administrations.
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|Saying Liberal FUD machine is too simplistic. On many issues the press is left-leaning, but not all. By and large these companies cater to what sells advertising time. There is some bias, but it is not as blatant as many think. My biggest problem is that the most in the press have a worldview that is incompatible with undersanding logic, facts, or right/wrong. They understand more...emotion, panic, scandal, and dirt.
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|Global Warming
Economy.
Iraq.
...ad infinitum.
The list of the media's blatant bias is endless. Can you honestly name one topic upon which the media has been the least bit conservative?
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|The left is "right" on the issues of global warming, economy and the stupid ****in war.
If you're too blind to see it, it isn't the media's fault.
BTW US media sucks! and I'm a libertarian/ social liberal
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|Brainy, check it:
Every quarter this year has posted a gain.
As a recession is defined as multiple back-to-back down quarters, we're not even close.
I'm a libertarian/ social liberal
Call yourself whatever you want. Might want to check your facts before toeing the party-line next time though so you don't look like a complete imbecile.
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