It was the night of Thanksgiving when the mad dash began.
Lines snaked around store blocks.
Parking lots were packed with cars.
Sale after deep-discount sale began earlier than ever before.
Headlines sang of Black Friday success stories that turned into gangbuster business come Cyber Monday.
“Because of the fast start and the early crowd, everybody went crazy,” said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of national retail consulting and investment banking firm Davidowitz & Associates in New York City. “The people loved it. They were out in droves. But by 11 a.m. the next day, the stores were emptying out. Once those consumers scooped up those deals, it was over. It came in with a roar, but went out with a whimper.”
Consumers witnessed deep online discounts from retailers post-Black Friday, including handbag designer Kate Spade, which pushed a 75 percent off, two-day sample sale online.
“It”™s Liz Claiborne”™s best division in terms of sales growth,” Davidowitz said of the brand. “But this was all planned out in advance. This wasn”™t Kate Spade saying, ”˜We”™ve got to give these bags away.”™ This was a planned promotion.”
This particular retail segment ”“ handbags, accessories, jewelry and shoes ”“ is doing remarkably well as a division, Davidowitz said.
Apparel stepped up its deal-push, too.
“The Gap had sales up to 60 percent off, American Eagle Outfitters had 40 percent off the entire purchase and Ann Taylor customers enjoyed 50 percent off until noon, when it became 40 percent off,” said Paula Kelliher, area director of mall marketing for Simon Property Group”™s The Westchester and The Galleria Mall in White Plains.
Macy”™s at The Galleria opened at midnight Thanksgiving Day, as per the Northeast corporate directive, as did Old Navy, Forever21 and Aeropostale.
“Sears opened at 4 a.m. and the remainder of our tenants opened at 5 a.m.,” Kelliher said. At The Westchester, “we opened at 7 a.m., which is more in line with what you might expect for a luxury destination to open.”
Traditionally, Black Friday is a bargain-hunter”™s holiday.
“If you look at the high-end customer, they don”™t participate in early rushes,” Davidowitz said. “They ignore it as complete madness. So, nothing that exciting happened (this Black Friday). The hysteria is everywhere and the message is, of course, wrong.”
The National Retail Federation pinned sales this Black Friday at a record $52 billion from Thanksgiving Day through the end of the holiday weekend.
According to the federation, 226 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 212 million last year.
“I have no idea what they”™re talking about,” Davidowitz said. “Stores were empty on the weekend. It was a good start, but could not be sustained. The weekend sales were soft ”¦ but online is tremendous and it”™s been tremendous all year.”
According to Deloitte”™s pre-Thanksgiving survey, of the 1,000 respondents who expected to shop Thanksgiving weekend, 50 percent planned to do so in-store while 41 percent planned to shop online on Cyber Monday.
However, Davidowitz said online transactions account for only 6 percent of total retail sales.
“At the end of the day, if you want to know ”˜How”™s business?”™ the answer is not so good and that”™s the truth.”
As for next year”™s holiday rush, it begs the question whether Thanksgiving Day will be the “new” Black Friday for the retail business.
Consumers witnessed electronics retailer P.C. Richard & Son release a statement decrying fellow retailers who committed the sordid act of taking employees away from their Thanksgiving dinner tables.
“Every retailer works for the customer,” Davidowitz said. “Best Buy opened early and had a great day so next year, I guarantee you one thing ”“ P.C. Richard will be open. It”™s now been institutionalized. People will be open (on Thanksgiving).”
