Retailers see Black Friday a success despite decline in customer traffic

If you look at the early reports for both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, for example, you may well decide that some exposure to retail is justified as the holiday season gets into full gear.

I have recommended both Mastercard (MA) and Visa (V) at various times over the a year ago and, as the charts below show, that has worked out pretty well so far.

With shoppers spending $5 billion in 24 hour on digital platforms, this year's Black Friday was record breaking, according to Adobe Digital Insights. At the same time, some analytics companies are reporting small decreases in Black Friday foot traffic. An order placed online but picked up in a store counts as a digital sale, but would the customer have still placed the order if the item could not have been picked up?

Black Friday online sales were stronger than forecasted, but footfall slowed significantly over the weekend.

"There has been a significant amount of debate surrounding the shifting importance of brick-and-mortar retail", Mr Brian Field, ShopperTrak's senior director of advisory services, said. That's an increase of more than 15% over last year's numbers. The U.S. Census Bureau highlighted data Monday which showed only 9.4 percent of sales were attributed to online shopping during the fourth quarter of past year, which covers the holiday shopping season.

Cyber Monday dates back to 2005 when it was first used as a promotion for Shop.org.

The growing online shopping trend has forced the toy chain Toys R Us and apparel retailers True Religion, The Limited, Rue21 and Payless Shoe Source to file for bankruptcy in 2017.

"People want to start getting into the holiday spirit and enjoy the concept of shopping and the holidays", he said. "Now I can buy things in Wal-Mart-they are cheaper and last longer". I have pointed this out here before, but while people obsess about the online versus bricks and mortar debate, and focus on USA retail outlets there are two companies that will benefit from increased retail activity wherever in the world it is found whether it is physical or virtual. Jill Renslow, Mall of America's executive vice president of business development, said stores like Nordstrom, Macy's and Best Buy were crowded. Macy's CEO Jeff Gennette told CNBC Friday morning that traffic at the department store chain's flagship Herald Square location already looked to be stronger than a year ago.

"I'd much rather do online", Boyd said.

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