Wal-Mart, Target Report Strong Thanksgiving Day Traffic--2nd Update

   By Angela Chen 
 

Retailers Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT) and Target Corp. (TGT) reported strong Thanksgiving Day traffic as shoppers focused on big-ticket electronic items.

Neither retailer reported specific sales figures early Friday morning, but both bragged about the number of customers that shopped at stores and online.

Wal-Mart and Target were among a host of retailers that began offering special "Black Friday" sales on Thanksgiving Day, starting at 6 p.m., in an effort to boost struggling sales in a tight economy and keep up with online retailers.

Online sales were key this year, as Target said Thursday was its biggest online sales day ever, while Wal-Mart said it was the second-highest online sales day ever, behind only last year's Cyber Monday, the nickname for the Monday after Thanksgiving when retailers tend to offer special deals online.

Wal-Mart also said it had more than 22 million customers at its stores between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Thursday, compared with 10 million last year.

The retailer said tablets, televisions, sheets, children's apparel and videogame products were among the top sellers. Other top sellers were dolls of Elsa from the Disney movie "Frozen," food containers and towels. Online, Wal-Mart said, popular items included wireless prepaid phones and baby items.

Meanwhile, at Target, mobile sales were a key driver, the company said. Online, the number of orders and sales increased more than 40% from the year before. Top-selling online items included iPads, Nikon L330 camera, Beats by Dre Solo HD headphones, the Dyson DC50 Allergy vacuum and the Sony PlayStation 4 Bundle.

In the stores, Target's top-selling items included the Element 40-inch television and Xbox One. In the first hour of stores being open, Target said it sold 1,800 televisions per minute and 2,000 videogames per minute. Other popular items were the Keurig K40 Brewer and the KitchenAid Classic Plus Stand Mixer.

This year, Target also had tried offering certain presale Black Friday deals in stores and online Wednesday. By 9 a.m. Wednesday, online sales had exceeded total sales from the same day last year, the company said.

Department stores J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) and Macy's Inc. (M), which started Thanksgiving Day deals for the first time last year, opened at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively. Kmart opened at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving, while Sears opened at 6 p.m. the same day.

About 140 million people are expected to shop over this holiday weekend, a number flat from last year, according to the National Retail Federation. Shoppers spent about $57.4 billion during the Black Friday weekend last year, the first decline on Black Friday weekend since 2009, according to the federation.

American shoppers have a lot of reasons to feel more confident this holiday season. Six months of strong economic growth have produced an upsurge in employment; wages are growing, if only barely; and a sharp drop in gasoline prices has put another $20 to $30 a month into most American's wallets.

At the same time, consumers remain cautious. A rough fall led Macy's and Wal-Mart to cut their financial forecasts, as a persistent decline in shopper traffic has left the industry jittery about a holiday season that is expected to rely heavily on profit-sapping discounts to drive sales.

The coming four weeks will be a test of how aggressively Americans are willing to spend and how much momentum the U.S. economy has going into the end of the year. That in turn is a crucial variable for a world economy that is relying more heavily on the U.S. as Europe sputters and once-fast growth in emerging markets like China slows.

Write to Angela Chen at [e-mail]

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