Online sales on the day after Thanksgiving — known as Black Friday among retailers — were unexpectedly strong, raising hopes among Web-based vendors that this year’s holiday shopping season may not turn out to be the total disaster that some analysts have been predicting.
ShopperTrak, which provides a nationwide benchmark of retail sales — both online and offline — estimates that Black Friday sales totaled $10.6 billion, a three percent rise from the year-ago date. Though the company’s cofounder, Bill Martin, notes that Black Friday is not always the best predictor of total holiday season performance, he thinks retailers of all stripes have reason to be cautiously optimistic.
“Retailers truly experienced what we’ve dubbed the ‘perfect storm’ over the last few weeks, with the financial markets melting down, the presidential election which typically slows retail traffic and relatively high gasoline prices — all of which slowed both retail traffic and spending,” Martin explained. “Under these circumstances, to start off the season in this fashion is truly amazing and is a testament to the resiliency of the American consumer, and undeniably proves a willingness to spend.”
Hot Holiday Gifts
Black Friday shoppers flocked to their PCs in order to snap up hot holiday gifts, such as Nintendo’s Wii gaming console, GPS navigation gear, and the iPod touch, according to eBay. The online shopping giant said its Shopping.com Web site sold a GPS unit every nine minutes and an MP3 player every 11 minutes.
The latest data from PriceGrabber.com also demonstrates that plenty of consumers also took advantage of promotional deals on LCD and plasma TV sets, Blu-ray Disc players, digital SLR cameras, and laptops.
“Thanksgiving and Black Friday traffic shows that value drives consumer spending,” said Ron LaPierre, president of PriceGrabber.com. “Consumers are responding to aggressive promotions and price drops on popular electronics.”
PayPal enjoyed a…