Some 200 million Americans made purchases during the discount period called “Black Friday”, the peak of shopping in the United States, a record, the Retail Federation (NRF) announced on Tuesday.
This figure, a small 1.9% increase in attendance compared to 2022, when the NRF expected a drop (-7.4%), is a sign of “consumer resilience”, according to the federation, in a economy showing signs of recovery. running out of strength.
The period considered goes from the Thanksgiving holiday (Thursday) to “Cyber Monday”, the following Monday, already a traditional online promotion day, including “Black Friday” itself, on Friday.
NRF President Matthew Shay attributed the success of this particular sequence to the promotions granted by traders, as well as favorable weather conditions.
134.2 million online consumers
“Consumption has moderated compared to the last three years,” in which there was an avalanche of purchases after the first months of the pandemic, the official acknowledged.
But “consumers are still strong and we expect that to continue into the holiday season,” Matthew Shay said. The NRF expects spending to increase by 3 to 4% over the period from early November to late December.
In detail, during the five days of the Thanksgiving period, 121.4 million people physically visited a point of sale (-1%), a figure lower than the 134.2 million US residents who made online purchases (+3 %), some of whom used both options.
In particular, transactions carried out via a smartphone or connected device have decreased significantly (-11%) in one year.
The five most popular types of items were clothing (49% of buyers), toys (31%), gift cards (25%), books, video games and other media (23%), then hygiene and beauty products (23%). %). .
Source: BFM TV
