Black Friday Sales Report 2016 for the Fashion Industry

Black Friday Sales Reports  Black Friday  Retail Sales Forecasts  Clothing Stores

Are you curious how well or how poorly clothing stores made out during the Black Friday 2016 shopping day?  We can review what the various news agencies and data collection agencies had to say about how well the retailers managed this season.  Some of this data includes stores that sell more than just apparel, but this will help us get a general feel of how the industry faired for this very important holiday shopping day.

Before reading below, it is good to remind ourselves that their is a difference between Black Friday, Black Friday Weekend, Cyber Monday, Holiday Sales, etc.  To be honest, when reading the various summaries the line between the terms gets a little blurred, so read carefully.  Also, some of the information listed on this page is predictions / forecasts and estimates. 

Here is one more thing to think about, "can any company truly give a report that indicates exact information regarding "all" retail sales on a particular day, weekend, or season?".  Let's keep in mind that their are many fashion boutiques, mom & pop stores, specialty stores, small ecommerce websites, etc. that could not possibly be calculated.  With that said, hopefully the following will help you with your research.

What was expected for Black Friday 2016:

Adobe's 2016 Holiday Shopping Predictions: Tips for Capitalizing on 2016's Holiday Shopping Season by Becky Tasker from Adobe Digital Insights wrote on October 27, 2016 that, "November 1 to December 31 — a large number of transactions will occur between consumers and brands, positioning the 2016 holiday shopping season to bring in over $91.6 billion dollars in revenue." (keep in mind she is refering to the entire holiday selling season; not only Black Friday.)  The article goes on to explain the "Adobe Holiday Shopping Predictions Report".  First we will tell you some of the key predictions, and than we will share with you their comments on how the report works.  They said, "For large shopping days, Thanksgiving sales are predicted to grow the fastest with a projected 15.6 percent year-over-year growth. Black Friday is next, with an estimated 11.3 percent year-over-year growth, and is anticipated to bring in over $3 billion for the first time ever! Cyber Monday, on the other hand, is not projected to grow as quickly; our report indicates retailers should expect a 9.4 percent year-over-year growth. However, with an expected $3.36 billion in revenue, Cyber Monday will continue to be the largest revenue day of the holiday season."

Here is more information regarding the Adobe Holiday Shopping Predictions Report which which is part of Adobe Digital Insights' (ADI's).

What Is the Adobe Holiday Shopping Predictions Report?  At Adobe, they measure roughly $7.50 of every $10.00 spent online as well as 80 percent of all online transactions from the top 100 retailers. To create this particular report, they viewed over 55-million SKUs to obtain product and pricing information and more than 1-trillion visits from thousands of retailers to obtain shopping information.  The compilation of this data helps us understand not only how consumers are interacting with brands, but also the current behavioral trends. This knowledge, in turn, allows them to help brands understand the best practices for both providing stellar customer experiences and driving in revenue this holiday season.

Treacy Reynolds & Ana Serafin Smith from NRF wrote an article titled, 137.4 Million Consumers Plan to Shop Thanksgiving Weekend on November 18, 2016,  the article stated "With the election behind them, consumers are eager to see the deals retailers will offer for the biggest shopping weekend of the year, with 59 percent of Americans – an estimated 137.4 million people – planning to or considering shopping during Thanksgiving weekend, according to the annual survey released today by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. The numbers, which cover Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Small Business Saturday plus Sunday, include both in-store and online shopping and are up from 58.7 percent or 135.8 million people last year."

Consumers will spend $27 billion this Friday, accounting for 4.7 percent of all holiday shopping, according to Craig Johnson from the research firm Customer Growth Partners. That may sound like a lot, but Black Friday's importance has shrunken over the years.  According to the article, A Less Frenzied Black Friday as Millennials Opt to Stay In (By Rachel Abrams Nov. 23, 2016), "A decade ago, the day accounted for 6 percent of sales".  In that New York Times article he went on to predict, "Over all, people are expected to spend $632 billion this holiday season, up from $607 billion last year, the company estimates. But for the first time, more than half that growth will come from online shopping".

What happened on Black Friday 2016: Retail Results

Nov. 25, 2016 – Walmart shared the following statement on how the company delivered on its Black Friday plans for customers. The retailer also unveiled top products purchased on Black Friday and how customers shopped that day in stores and online. “This Black Friday, we promised customers great deals, more availability of those items, an integrated offering with Walmart.com and the simple shopping experience our customers have come to expect from Walmart. I am proud to say that we've delivered on all fronts,” said Steve Bratspies, Chief Merchandising Officer, Walmart U.S. “Our customers were particularly excited about the new technologies we offered this year. In addition to picking up Black Friday favorites like televisions and toys, they flocked to our stores for drones, virtual reality products and hoverboards.”

Walmart Black Friday Results 2016

Posted on November 25, 2016 at 9:52AM by JJ Kinahan at Forbes he said, "First indications from “Black Friday” sales raging around the country this Thanksgiving sound positive, with online sales reaching $1.15 billion, MarketWatch reported. That's up 13.6% from last year. Some of the popular bargain items this year include tablets and toys. Additionally, video games, TVs, and appliances rang up the discounts, MarketWatch said. And according to the National Retail Federation, holiday sales are expected to increase 3.6% to $655.8 billion this year, slightly higher than the seven-year average of 3.4%."

In an article by Hayley Peterson posted November 25, 2016 at 11:55AM on Business Insider, "Thanksgiving Day online sales totaled $1.93 billion, which is slightly lower than expected but still represents 11.5% growth over last year."

Crowds Pick Up Slightly on Black Friday as Online Sales Surge (NBC News; Nov 26 2016, 12:01 am ET): U.S. online sales surged on Black Friday, with Amazon.com Inc offering the steepest discounts among e-commerce sites as it set the agenda for what has traditionally been the biggest shopping day of the year for brick-and-mortar retailers. The article went on to say, "Online sales on Friday hit $1.70 billion as of 3 p.m. EDT, according to Adobe Digital Index, after reaching $1.13 billion for the day on Thursday, up almost 14 percent from a year ago".  Here is another interesting tidbit provided in the NBC News article.  They said, "The deepest average discounts for Black Friday came from leading online retailer Amazon.com Inc, with an average of 42 percent off, compared with 33 percent off at Walmart , 35 percent at Target and 36 percent at Best Buy, according to e-commerce analytics firm Clavis Insight."

According to Elaine Low of Investor's Business Daily on 11/25/16 she posted in an article The Black Friday Score So Far (http://www.investors.com/news/the-black-friday-score-so-far-target-wal-mart-macys-mobile/), "Mobile shopping appears to be the breakout star of the Thanksgiving/black Friday sales days. Amid analyst reports of tamer in-store foot traffic, retailers are noting big sales via smartphones and other devices. Target's mobile sales have grown to account for over 60% of its online sales. For Wal-Mart, mobile drove over 70% of its online Black Friday traffic. And Adobe said mobile-driven revenue grew 58.6% from last year to a record $449 million on Thanksgiving Day alone.".


In an article by Phil Wahba on Fortune posted November 25, 2016 at 12:00PM Eastern Time, he explains that Kohl's set a company record for online sales on Thanksgiving.  He stated that, "The department store chain's chief executive tells Fortune that Kohl's  KSS -1.30%  had set a company record for single-day online sales on Thanksgiving. The news echoes strong results from Target  TGT 0.17% , which also had a record Thanksgiving, and Adobe data suggesting total e-commerce sales in the U.S. topped $2 billion on Thursday. (Kohl's is likely to break its own record on Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year.)"

More information may be coming soon.

Take a look back at the 2015 Black Friday Results if you wish to compare the news reporting from last year.

Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States.