People might have spent plenty of money on electronics, toys, clothing and other gifts on Black Friday this year. But they spent far less time in physical stores.
That’s the key finding from a look at this year’s Black Friday spending patterns by pass_by, an AI-powered geospatial insights platform.
According to pass_by, total visits to physical stores on Black Friday this year fell by about 21.51% when compared to 2019. pass_by estimates that this represents a decrease of $1.6 billion of in-store purchases in 2023 when compared to the same shopping holiday four years earlier.
This shouldn’t be overly surprising news to anyone who’s watched the retail sector. Online sales continue to rise, and that holds true during the holiday shopping season, too. A growing number of consumers prefers to shop with their laptops or smartphones, avoiding crowded retailers.
The most successful retailers today, then, rely on the omnichannel approach, offering both brick-and-mortar shops and a robust online presence. Those brick-and-mortar locations often provide consumers the chance to window shop, studying different items that they’ll then buy later from the retailer’s online store.
Sam Amrani, chief executive officer of pass_by, said that this year’s holiday shopping trends show that consumers are willing to spend. They just want options with how they shop.
“While overall foot traffic on Black Friday has seen a decline, our data reveals a nuanced picture,” Amrani said in a statement. “Specific sectors like electronics are bucking the trend with significant growth, and certain brands have experienced remarkable surges. This shift underscores the evolving consumer behaviors and the increasing importance of targeted marketing and customer experience.”
Black Friday store visits were down 3.77% this year when compared to last year, according to pass_by. Relying on data from Mastercard and other sources, pass_by says that this represents a decrease of about $92.74 million in in-store purchases.
This doesn’t mean that all retailers are seeing foot traffic decrease in their physical stores. According to pass_by, in-store visits to electronics retailers increased 7.73% the week of Black Friday when compared to the same period in 2022.
Brands that showed significant increases in in-store visits on Black Friday this year compared to 2022 included Akira, where in-store visits were up 61.43%; Shoe Station, which saw in-store visits jump by 52.09%; and Bealls Outlet, which saw in-store visits rise by 45.60%.