((Automated translation by Reuters, please see disclaimer https://bit.ly/rtrsauto))
*
Mastercard estimates in-store sales growth of 0.7% and online sales growth of 14.6%.
*
Data provider Facteus says in-store spending fell
*
When modest inflation is taken into account, performance is even weaker
*
Price cuts have led to real deflation in certain categories
*
Shortened holiday season a factor for retailers this year
(discounts in all sectors) by Ananya Mariam Rajesh and Bianca Flowers
Black Friday Spending at U.S. retail stores was subdued this year, in contrast to a larger surge online, as bargain-seeking Americans abandoned stores in favor of their phones and laptops, Mastercard data shows and other data providers.
Sales at brick-and-mortar stores rose just 0.7% year-on-year, according to preliminary estimates from payments organization Mastercard, and were lower according to data firm Facteus.
Still, U.S. e-commerce sales grew 14.6% online, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, a measure of U.S. retail sales across the Mastercard payment network, combined with estimates for cash and check payments.
Estimates are not adjusted for inflation. “When you account for inflation, in-store spending on () is even lower,” said Jonathan Chin, co-founder and chief data officer at Facteus. The company looked at debit and credit card spending habits online and in stores on a seven-day, consecutive year-over-year basis.
According to Facteus, online sales increased 11.1% and in-store sales fell 5.4%. With inflation, those numbers drop to 8.5% growth online and 8% decline in-store.
Michelle Meyer, chief economist at the Mastercard Economics Institute, notes that if overall inflation rises above 2%, popular holiday-related purchases, such as appliances, clothing, sporting goods, personal care products and jewelry, have seen their prices fall or increase only modestly over the past year.
Black Friday, the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States, kicked off the Christmas shopping season for retailers. Competition has intensified to attract discount-seeking shoppers, like 58-year-old Corey Coscioni.
On Friday, Mr. Coscioni searched for bargains both online and in Chicago-area stores, looking for “gifts for everyone: my wife, my daughter and myself.” It is notably available at Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and Anthropologie URBN.O. “While we’re waiting in line, I’ll go shopping
MIDDLE SALES
Before Black Friday, many shoppers went to stores to window shop and check out the merchandise and prices available. “They were waiting,” says Mr. Meyer, an economist at Mastercard. “But when Black Friday sales began, we saw a large concentration of spending, which was done online, because that’s where the consumer has the greatest power and choice
Department store chains such as Macy’s MN and Kohl’s KSS.N , as well as big-box retailer Target TGT.N , could see slowed sales this season, which is shorter with just 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Sales at Best Buy BBY.N and Target on Friday remained relatively flat year over year, according to Facteus.
U.S. consumers’ online shopping from mobile phones, laptops, desktops and other devices has potentially favored e-commerce giants such as Amazon.com AMZN.O and Walmart WMT.N . Walmart, which operates 4,700 stores in the United States, has invested heavily in home store deliveries for its online customers.
Online retailers including Shein, PDD’s PDD.O Temu, and TikTok Shop, from Beijing-based ByteDance’s social media platform TikTok, also reported strong sales growth in the seven days to Friday, compared to the previous year, Facteus said.
Overall Friday spending increased 3.4% year-over-year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which excludes auto sales and is not adjusted for inflation. From November 1 to December 24, spending in stores and online is expected to increase 3.2% year over year, according to previous estimates.
Americans spent about $10.8 billion online Friday, up 10.2 percent from a year earlier, according to a Saturday tally from Adobe Inc.. Makeup, Bluetooth speakers and espresso machines were the best-selling products. Adobe keeps track of the devices that use its software to help power more than a trillion visits to U.S. retail sites.
Separately, Salesforce, a cloud-based software company that tracks a different range of spending categories, said U.S. online sales rose 7% on Friday, to $17.5 billion. Shoppers bought more appliances and furniture online, according to Salesforce, which says it analyzed the activity of more than 1.5 billion buyers worldwide.
Related News :