Early Results Show Mixed Black Friday

The first tallies are in, and Black Friday weekend 2024 appears to be something of a mixed big for retailers, with some shopping formats/merchandising categories faring better than others.  Spending trends for the period should come into even clearer focus on Tuesday (Dec. 3), when the National Retail Federation releases its numbers/views for the extended holiday weekend of shopping.

Here are the headlines (and links) for several news releases with results that have been tabulated thus far:

Early Data Shows U.S. Black Friday In-Store Traffic Down 3.2% YoY, with Footwear Emerging as a Strong Performer, According to RetailNext

Retailers See 64% of Black Friday Purchases from New Customers: 80% of all buys made from mobile devices, Bluecore finds

Mastercard SpendingPulse: US Black Friday Retail Sales Up +3.4% vs. Last Year: Consumers valued deals and promotions on Black Friday, with e-commerce sales growing +14.6% compared to 2023

U.S. Retailers Maximize Black Friday Week: Trend leads to softer day-of traffic: In-store traffic from Sunday, Nov. 24 – Friday, Nov. 29, was in line with 2024 performance year-to-date, down 3.9% year-over-year, according to Sensormatic Solutions ShopperTrak Analytics