 |
|
| Shoppers on Saturday at Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg, Pa. | |
Despite economic and political disruption and turmoil and rising costs for consumers, "Americans opened their wallets on Black Friday, chasing deep discounts and stretching their budgets where they could," as the New York Times put it.
Black Friday sales--and buying--again started well before Black Friday. Still, on Friday online sales amounted to $11.8 billion, up 9.1% from last year, Adobe Analytics estimated. And on Thanksgiving consumers spent $6.4 billion online.
Mastercard SplendingPulse estimated that on Black Friday, online sales rose 10.4% and in-store sales rose 1.7%.
Discounters tended to do better than other retailers, as shoppers sought bargains and value.
As you can read in many social media posts, bookstores, except for those in the Midwest hit by snow (see below), did exceedingly well as readers rallied to show their support of bookstores--and find some excellent gifts for themselves and others. More on holiday sales this week as the numbers roll in!