Retailers reported “strong” shopper traffic on Black Friday as discounts on televisions, toys and computers drew budget-conscious crowds across the US, the National Retail Federation said.
High-definition TVs, laptops, Zhu Zhu Pets robotic hamsters and winter coats were among the most popular items, according to the federation, a Washington-based trade group. Sales probably met or exceeded retailers’ projections, David Schick, a Baltimore-based analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Co, wrote in a note to investors after store visits and conversations with employees.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, drew crowds with $298 Hewlett-Packard laptop computers and other specials that went on sale at 5 am Best Buy Inc, the biggest electronics chain, used $547.99 42-inch Samsung flat-panel TVs to lure shoppers grappling with the highest unemployment in 26 years. The retailer had bigger early-morning crowds than last year, Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn said.
“The surprise news is that they are actually buying for themselves as well, due to pent-up demand and frugal fatigue,” Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with NPD Group Inc said in an interview yesterday. “They are saying ‘Let’s loosen up the purse strings a little bit,’ but it is still cautious spending.” NPD, based in Port Washington, New York, is a market research firm.
The day after US Thanksgiving is known as Black Friday, the traditional beginning of holiday buying. Explanations of the phrase’s origins differ, one holding that it’s the weekend when retailers go to being in the black, profitable for the year. Stores open early on Black Friday and offer early-bird discounts to attract business.
Black Friday prediction
Retailers’ chief marketing officers predicted Black Friday sales would climb an average 1.8 per cent from a year ago at their own stores, according to a survey conducted by BDO Seidman LLP in October. Ninety-six of 100 executives said they would increase promotions this year, offering the biggest discounts on consumer electronics. “Retailers in all sectors have reported strong crowds,” according to an NRF statement yesterday.
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Walmart fell 33 cents to $54.63 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Richfield, Minnesota-based Best Buy lost 43 cents to $42.83. Snapping up TVs
There seemed to be more discounts on TVs this year, and shoppers were snapping them up, said Charles O’Shea, a New York- based retail analyst with Moody’s Investors Service. In the four hours he spent checking retailers in northern New Jersey, he saw several shoppers standing at bus stops holding flat-panel sets.
“It looks like everybody has caught the promotional bug,” O’Shea said in a telephone interview yesterday.
The lines in front of Best Buy stores were longer and the company’s Web site attracted more visitors than in 2008, Best Buy’s Dunn said.
“Those are both directionally important indicators for us,” he said in an interview.
Samir Patel arrived at noon on Thanksgiving Day with his brother and cousin to claim the No. 1 spot in line at Best Buy in Jersey City, New Jersey. The 26-year-old, who has been unemployed since he graduated with a master’s degree in May, was waiting to buy a Sony Vaio laptop for $399.99 when the store opened at 5:30 am the next day.