More Shoppers But Less Spending On Black Friday

Last year’s Black Friday may have turned out more shoppers, but the larger crowds spent less on average compared to 2008. Online shopping numbers, however, increased. In 2009, 195 million shoppers hit the stores and went online to do their shopping, up from 172 million in 2008, according to a survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF).

The survey, conducted by BIGresearch, found that average spending per shopper over the weekend totaled $343.31, compared to $372.57 per person in 2008. Total spending was estimated at $41.2 billion.

 People got an early start at the stores. The survey found that nearly one third of shoppers (31.2 percent), were at the stores by 5 am, compared with 23.3 percent in 2008.

The top retail destinations over the weekend were department stores, with nearly half of holiday shoppers (49.4 percent) visiting at least one department store. The second most popular shopping destinations were discount retailers, which attracted 43.2 percent of shoppers.

Just over a quarter (28.5 percent) of Americans went online for their shopping over the weekend, according to the NRF.

comScore, an Internet research company, reported that Black Friday generated $595 million in online sales, an 11 percent increase compared to 2008. From November 1, the beginning of the holiday season, until after the Thanksgiving weekend, holiday shoppers spent $10.57 billion online. This marks a 3 percent increase compared to 2008, comScore calcuated.

The top online retailers, whose sites were visited by four million unique visitors on Black Friday, were Amazon, Wal-Mart, Apple, Target and Best Buy. Each site, with the exception of Target, saw a double-digit rise in unique visitors compared to last year’s Black Friday, according to comScore.