The average amount shoppers spent this Black Friday weekend fell 3.5 percent to $289.19, including both online and offline purchases, the National Retail Federationfound. Consumers paid $299.60 in 2015, according to the trade group.
Aggressive discounts — both online and in stores — contributed to a drop in average spending per person during the weekend.
“Over one-third of shoppers said 100 percent of their purchases were on sale,” federation Chief Executive Officer Matthew Shay said in a statement. That increased more than threefold from last year.
Forty-four percent of consumers did their shopping online, compared with 40 percent at brick-and-mortar stores.
The owner of a Charlotte-based women’s clothing store called Elsa Fine says she needs to buy different merchandise for the Charlotte location, for its website and for pop-up shops she’ll have this season. The owner, Jordan Dollard, spent the last six months studying shoppers’ habits and found that an online shopper wants to quickly find staple items, while a visitor to the store is more likely to be buying a party dress and wants an experience.
“We’re in a time where walking into a store, picking out what you want and leaving is not enough anymore,” Dollard says.
Mooresville, North Carolina-based Lowe’s Home Improvement was closed on Thanksgiving. The second-largest home-improvement chain in the U.S. is open for Cyber Monday and launched its “Cyber Week” on Nov. 28.
The retailer is offering five percent off to customers who buy using a Lowe’s credit card until Nov. 30. Customers get 24 months of “Special Financing” on purchases over $1,999. Some of Lowe’s most discounted items include vacuums, outdoor light fixtures, storage sheds, ladders and small home appliances.
The retailer, which operates roughly 1,850 home-improvement and hardware stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico, says its Cyber Monday online offers are limited and while supplies last. Lowe’s is offering free shipping on all orders.
Target has issued a press release indicating that the free shipping promotion from 2015 will return for an even longer period lasting from Oct. 25 through Jan. 1, 2017. The release said that “beginning in mid-November, guests will save $10 off a $50 purchase on a different product category each week, including Grocery, Home, Apparel and Accessories, Trim and Toys.”
Target will offer “free returns and an extended Price Match Guarantee, which enables them to price match any purchase made Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, excluding Thanksgiving through Cyber Week,” the release said.
