Serve too many appetizers, and your hungriest guests will still eat less at dinnertime. Likewise, retailers that have gotten overzealous with early sales are diluting Black Friday sales, according to FBR & Co.
Overall consumers were "extremely deal seeking" over Thanksgiving and Black Friday, writes Susan Anderson . So retailers had to compensate: about 60% of the retailers Anderson covers excluding athletic retailers had higher promos this year over last. Store traffic will likely wane as more sales move online, says Anderson. However, there were some winners in the group.
American Eagle Outfitters ( AEO), Foot Locker ( FL), Finish Line ( FINL), Urban Outfitters ( URBN) and Abercrombie & Fitch ( ANF) had the best foot traffic.
Here's more from her note:
Our checks showed teens and young adults shopped primarily on Thanksgiving evening and into the morning of Black Friday. However, there were also some families with kids. We observed the best traffic at VS/BBW, AEO, FL, FINL, UO, and Hollister on Thanksgiving /Black Friday. For Black Friday, the crowd was lighter in the morning, likely representing more people shopping Thanksgiving night as well as more people shopping online since the same deals and offers are available online as in stores. Overall, we believe traffic was likely down on Thanksgiving /Black Friday combined, though sales likely down slightly as consumers continued to shop more online (online sales likely +DD)
