Thanksgiving shopping weekend a success

ALBANY — The home-stretch of the Christmas shopping season got off to a roaring start for businesses both large and small — as well as for those with a strong online presence — as the Thanksgiving shopping weekend triumvirate of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday, drew steady crowds eagerly opening their wallets for good deals.

According to a Thanksgiving weekend results survey from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Proper Insights and Analytics, more than 154 million consumers shopped over the holiday weekend, up from 2015’s 151 million shoppers.

Of those shoppers, the survey indicates 44 percent shopped online, while 40 percent shopped in-store, with Black Friday leading the way as the most popular online shopping day (Cyber Monday data from the NRF were not available at press time), as well as the most popular day for shopping in-store.

Seventy-four percent of online customers did their shopping on Black Friday, as did 75 percent of those who shopped in-store. By comparison, 49 percent of consumers shopped online and 40 percent shopped in-store on Saturday, followed by 36 percent for online shopping and 35 percent in-store on Thanksgiving night.

Additionally 34 percent of consumers shopped online and 17 percent shopped in-store on Sunday.

The average spending amount per person across the holiday weekend totaled $289.19, down slightly from the $299.60 average in 2015.

“It was a strong weekend for retailers but an even better weekend for consumers, who took advantage of some really incredible deals,” said NRF President and CEO Mathew Shay. “In fact, over one-third of shoppers said 100 percent of their purchases were on sale.”

Indeed, the survey also indicated that 50 percent of in-store shoppers said the deals they found were too good to pass up.

On the online shopping front, Adobe Digital Insights has reported that Thanksgiving and Black Friday netted a whopping $5 billion in sales, with Black Friday sales setting a new daily online shopping record of $3.34 billion, a 21.6 percent increase over the prior year.

Those holiday shopping weekend trends were seen on the local level as well, with several retailers reporting that the five-day stretch was a success.

Jason Mulford, whose family owns both The Shoe Box and the Albany Mall Southfitters store, said things got off to a slow start with an uneven Black Friday but picked up steadily leading to a very successful Small Business Saturday.

“(Black Friday) was off a little bit; we think it had a lot to do with staggered opening times of everybody instead of one opening time,” said Mulford. “I will tell you, though, that this was the best Small Business Saturday we’ve ever had.”

Mulford added that he also saw a significant spike in online traffic this year, which he attributed to the rise of smartphones and other mobile devices and the ease with which people can order products.

That observation mirrors the NRF survey data, which showed 56 percent of smartphone owners and 53 percent of tablet owners used their devices to assist with their weekend shopping.

While online sales were brisk in the Albany area, so too were in-store sales, with many retailers sharing Mulford’s enthusiasm.

Allison Romanesk, an associate with Blush on Ledo Road, said the boutique saw success during the holiday shopping weekend on both Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.

“It went really well,” she said. “It was a lot busier than we thought it would be.”

Romanesk said that, in addition to the sales the store offered on both days, strong community support for small businesses was likely a contributing factor. Although she could not provide immediate statistical data, Romanesk said both days set a good pace for the shopping season leading up to Christmas Day.

Target manager Chuck Rinkevich, who is coming off of his first Black Friday at the Dawson Road store, said he was also happy with the traffic seen at the store during the year’s biggest shopping day. Given the horror stories often associated with the day, he said he was pleasantly surprised with how well-mannered the crowd was.

Rinkevich said Nintendo games were popular and that the Hatchables were also hard to keep on shelves. There were a number of key items at the store that sold out fairly early following its opening at 6 p.m. on Thursday, the manager added.

“The store held up really well,” Rinkevich said. “There were 300-400 people outside when we opened. All in all, it went really well.

“It was my first Black Friday, so everything was new. There was nothing really out of the ordinary. It is just about what we expected.”

By Monday, the store and its associates had recovered from the weekend rush and were ready to continue serving holiday shoppers.

“The items were put back on the shelf,” Rinkevich said. “Having the toys stocked and looking good is what it is all about.”

Chris Phillips, owner of Wild Side Running, saw his business get off to a fairly slow start on Small Business Saturday, a pace that he said continued for the remainder of the day.

“It was OK,” he said. “It was definitely not the biggest day of the year. It was a day that got a little bit of attention, so hopefully it will kick off the rest of the holiday season.”

While attempting not to sound negative, Phillips said Small Business Saturday might be better served if it was on a different day, but overall it was a good day.

As it turns out, Black Friday was actually busier for the locally-owned store, which is the reverse of what might be expected.

“There is so much football on Saturday, so it affects (shopping activity), especially for men,” Phillips said. “Friday we promoted harder, because we knew more people would be out shopping.”

Now, Phillips said, the Lake Park Drive store is gearing up for what ought to be a busy period up until Dec. 25.

“It should hopefully be a good Christmas season,” he said.

Kmart was among the stores that opened on Thanksgiving Day with associates expecting a large and eager crowd.

Store Manager Derrell Robinson said there were up to 100 people waiting for the doors to open on Thursday, producing a crowd consistent with what the store was expecting. Robinson said Kmart had a number of specials, and some items sold out.

He said he knew of no significant problems at the store during the holiday shopping weekend.

“For the most part, everyone seemed happy,” he said.

While the Dawson Road location saw plenty of in-store traffic, management reported that the store also saw considerable online activity as well.

“We are surprised with the online (traffic),” Robinson said. “Online shopping has really escalated.”

The store began receiving Cyber Monday orders early Sunday, and that traffic was expected to continue into the rest of the week, the store manager said.

Robinson said Hatchables proved to be popular at Kmart and that some customers took advantage of layaway service for some of the hot items they were searching for. Home items were particularly sought-after, selling out early, he said.

Regardless of the level of Thanksgiving weekend traffic seen in stores in the Albany area, retailers nationwide are encouraged by the prospect of what the solid Thanksgiving shopping season might mean for the rest of the fourth quarter, which is expected to be strong.

The NRF is predicting that November and December holiday sales figures, excluding gas, autos and restaurant sales, will surpass $655 billion, which would be a 3.6 percent increase from 2015. That increase would also be higher than the 10-year average of 2.5 percent and above the seven-year average of 3.4 percent.

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