Black Friday Spending Grows 11% in 2009

Overall Black Friday 2009 sales were up only slightly from last year.

One of the busiest shopping days of the year is the Friday after Thanksgiving affectionately known as Black Friday. Shoppers descend on stores like a biblical plague and spend lots of money. The serious shoppers have been known to camp out in front of retail stores to be the first in line as well.

Black Friday deals aren’t limited to brick and mortar retail outlets alone. Many online companies like Amazon.com also offer good deals on Black Friday. Analytics firm comScore has released details about online shopping on Black Friday and the top two websites for shoppers were Amazon and Walmart.com.

Overall sales on Black Friday were up 11% from the same day in 2008. Visits to Amazon rose 28% with visits to Walmart.com rising 22%. The two online retailers have been fighting for marketshare in the online industry leading to significant price competition.

ComScore previously reported that online shopping for the holiday season 2009 is expected to rise 3% to $28.8 billion compared to the $28 billion spent shopping online for the 2008 holiday season. The official kick off for the online shopping season is today, known as Cyber Monday.

“While this acceleration in spending suggests the online holiday season may be shaping up slightly more optimistically than anticipated, it may also reflect the heavy discounting and creative promotions being put forth by retailers that now encompass the use of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter,” said Fulgoni.

Sales were up overall, but CNN Money reports that the amount spent per person was down compared to 2008. This year the amount each person shopping over the weekend spent dropped to $343.31 compared to $372.57 in 2008. Total weekend spending was pegged at $41.2 billion, up from $41 billion in 2008.

NRF CEO Tracy Mullin said, “While retailers are encouraged by the number of Americans who shopped over Black Friday weekend, they know they have their work cut out for them to keep people coming back through Christmas.”