Dec. 3, 2014

By Rumasa Noor

Retailers saw relatively low consumer traffic in stores on Black Friday this year. Most major media outlets reported that the retailers saw a significant decrease in sales this year. Consumer spending was reportedly expected to fall 11 percent, from $57.4 billion last year to $50.9 billion this year, according to an article on CNBC.

Media outlets reported research based on surveys and data, analyzing reasons as to why sales went down this year and why more shoppers decided to stay home.

One of the reasons for the decrease in sales is the change in shoppers’ spending behavior.

The traditional way of shopping has increasingly changed with the upsurge in online shopping. More and more consumers prefer to shop online these days. IBM’s data suggested an increase in online sales by 14.3 percent on Thanksgiving, while on Black Friday the sales went up by 9.5 percent, according to New York
Times.

The New York Times also reported that people used their smartphones and tablets for shopping more than ever.

Some consumers did early purchasing this year, taking advantage of the pre-Black Friday sales offered by some retailers, according to CNBC.

The founder of ShopperTrak, a Chicago-based consumer analytics company, said the means behind slow sales is this consumers are waiting to shop later in the season. Some might wait until the last Saturday before Christmas, which is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. This change in consumer shopping pattern might be surprising for some, but it has been expected considering the increasing reliance on online shopping and escalated popularity of smart phones. Consumers have started to consider comfort over the hyped-holiday.

Online shopping will likely continue and is expected to increase in the future. It may not come off as a surprise if the majority of consumers start making online purchases in the next few years.