Black Friday: Top Five Takeaways

11/28/2016

The Fung Global Retail & Technology team visited 35 stores throughout the Greater New York City area and Las Vegas on Black Friday for a first-hand view on traffic and sales. Here are their top five takeaways from their store visits:

Cyber Monday Starts Early for Walmart: Walmart kicked off its Cyber Monday deals at 12:01am EST on Friday for the first time ever, as it aims to grab customers ahead of its competitors. Last year, the company posted its Cyber Monday deals on the Sunday evening following Thanksgiving.



In-store deals began at 6pm on Thanksgiving Day, the same time as last year. Walmart nearly tripled its online assortment to more than 23 million products compared to 8 million last year, with the growth partially driven by the increase in third-party sellers. Walmart’s online sales growth accelerated to 20.6% in the third quarter from 11.8% in the second quarter.



Retailers Repeat Same Deals as Last Year: Several retailers, including Walmart, Best Buy and Target, repeated Black Friday deals from last year. Examples include J.C. Penney’s duplicated discount of 25% off for Nike products and Macy’s $39.99 luxurious cashmere deal.



Some retailers also chose to offer lower prices this year. J.C. Penney’s $7.99 deal for Made for Life v-neck brushed fleeced pullovers was reduced to $5 this year. Some retailers, however, are choosing to offer more expensive prices this year—Target, for example, reduced the discount on family apparel to 30% off this year from 40% off last year.



Tech Influence Felt Across Categories: Tech items were popular even at stores that typically do not have a broad electronics offering, specifically, tech watches at department stores by Apple and Michael Kors. Several retailers featured virtual-reality (VR) headsets as doorbusters.



Amazon was Aggressive on Apparel: The ecommerce company offered 20%-30% off select apparel, jewelry and watches. Nearly the entire month of November was one major Black Friday sale for Amazon. At the beginning of November, the e-commerce giant began to roll out its daily deals and Pre-Black Friday sales, with special offers leading up to the ultimate sales of 2016. Amazon also offered consumers a free pair of diamond studs with any qualifying purchase of $200.



Many Promotions Identical In-Stores and Online: Many retailers offered the same promotions online as they did in-store, including J. Crew, Urban Outfitters and Express.



Several retailers such as Lululemon, Marshalls and TJ Maxx did not offer significant discounts for Black Friday, and instead focused on gifting for the holiday.


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