Black Friday Spending in US Retail Stores Beats Expectations
By: Ananya Mariam Rajesh and Bianca Flowers
Black Friday shopping may have come and gone, but the data is in, and it’s telling a tale of two different stories for traditional retailers and e-commerce platforms. According to preliminary estimates by Mastercard and other data providers, sales at brick-and-mortar stores grew by only 0.7% year-over-year, a far cry from online sales, which surged 14.6% during the same period.
The difference between the two is attributed to the growing preference of American consumers to shop from the comfort of their own homes, rather than venturing out to physical stores. In-store sales were actually lower when adjusted for inflation, rising just 0.3% year-over-year, according to Facteus, a data firm that tracks spending patterns on debit and credit cards.
Michelle Meyer, Chief Economist at Mastercard’s Economics Institute, noted that while overall inflation is currently above 2%, product categories such as appliances, clothing, sporting goods, personal care products, and jewelry have actually seen prices decline or rise only modestly over the past year.
Meanwhile, e-commerce sales have been growing, with online sales reaching 11.1% year-over-year growth, according to Facteus, and 14.6% according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures U.S. retail sales across the Mastercard payment network combined with estimates for cash and check payments.
Department store chains, big-box retailers, and e-commerce giants like Amazon.com and Walmart, which has invested heavily in store-to-home deliveries for online shoppers, are likely to benefit from this trend. With only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year, the shorter holiday shopping season may also weigh on in-store sales.
Overall, spending on Black Friday rose 3.4% year-over-year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, with e-commerce retailers such as Shein, PDD’s Temu, and TikTok Shop exhibiting strong growth in sales during the seven-day period through Friday.