Black Friday spending in US retail stores muted compared to online purchases

Published

6 months ago

December 2, 2024

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Black Friday spending in US retail stores was muted this year in contrast to a more robust rise online, as bargain-hungry Americans skipped stores in favor of their phones and laptops, according to data from Mastercard and other data providers.

Sales at brick-and-mortar stores grew just 0.7% year-over-year, according to preliminary estimates by payments processor Mastercard, and were lower according to data firm Facteus.

Yet US e-commerce sales increased by a hefty 14.6% online, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, a metric measuring US retail sales across the Mastercard payments network combined with estimates for cash and check payments.

The estimates aren’t adjusted for inflation. “If you layer in inflation, in-store (spending) is even lower,” said Jonathan Chin, co-founder and head of data at Facteus.

The firm looked at spending patterns on debit and credit cards online and in stores on a seven-day rolling basis year-over-year.

Facteus said online sales grew 11.1% and in-store sales fell 5.4%. With inflation, those numbers drop to 8.5% online growth and an 8% in-store decline.

Michelle Meyer, chief economist at Mastercard Economics Institute, noted that while overall inflation is running at more than 2%, popular holiday-related purchases, such as appliances, clothing, sporting goods, personal care products and jewelry, have been either declining in price, or increasing only modestly, over the last year.

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, kicked off the holiday shopping season for retailers. Competition has intensified to win shoppers seeking discounts, such as Corey Coscioni, age 58.

Coscioni looked for bargains both online and in Chicago-area stores on Friday, seeking “gifts for everyone: my wife, my daughter, and myself.”

His stops included Bloomingdales, Macys and Anthropologie While were waiting in line, Ill be shopping.

Ahead of Black Friday, many shoppers visited stores to browse, taking in what merchandise and prices were available. “They were waiting,” said Meyer, the Mastercard economist. “But then when the Black Friday sales hit, we had this big concentration of spending, which was really done online given that’s where you have the greatest amount of power and choice as a consumer.”

Department store chains such as Macy’s and Kohl’s, as well as big-box retailer Target, could see muted sales this season, which is shorter with only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Sales at Best Buy and Target on Friday were relatively flat year-over-year, according to Facteus.

US shoppers’ strong purchases online from mobile phones, laptops, desktops and other devices potentially favored e-commerce giants such as Amazon.com and Walmart, which operates 4,700 US stores, has invested heavily in store-to-home deliveries for its online shoppers.

E-commerce retailers including Shein, PDD’s Temu, and TikTok Shop, of Beijing-based ByteDances TikTok social media platform, also showed strong growth in sales in the seven days through Friday, compared to a year earlier, Facteus said.

Overall spending on Friday rose 3.4% year-over-year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which excludes automotive sales and is not adjusted for inflation.

From Nov. 1 through Dec. 24, spending in stores and online is expected to be up 3.2% year-over-year, according to its earlier estimates.

A tally by Adobe Inc on Saturday showed that Americans spent roughly $10.8 billion online on Friday, up 10.2% from a year earlier.

Makeup, bluetooth speakers and espresso machines were top sellers, it said. Adobe keeps track of devices that use its software to help power more than 1 trillion visits to US retail sites.

Separately, Salesforce, a cloud-based software company that tracks a different array of spending categories, said US online sales rose 7% on Friday to $17.5 billion.

Shoppers bought more home appliances and furniture online, according to Salesforce, which said it analyzed the activity of more than 1.5 billion global shoppers.

Politics

‘I wish I’d never met him’: Peter Mandelson ‘regrets’ association with Jeffrey Epstein

Published

2 hours ago

May 27, 2025

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'I wish I'd never met him': Peter Mandelson 'regrets' association with Jeffrey Epstein

Peter Mandelson, the UK ambassador to the United States, has told Sky News he “regrets” his association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Lord Mandelson‘s links to the late billionaire were exposed in a 2019 report by JP Morgan bank, filed in a New York court.

Epstein killed himself in August of that year while awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking minors.

He had previously served an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty to procuring a person under the age of 18 for prostitution.

Whilst serving that sentence, the JP Morgan report suggests that Mr Mandelson stayed at Epstein’s Manhattan flat.

Epstein wrote to his private banker on 17 June 2009: “Peter will be staying at 71st over weekend…”

At the time, Lord Mandelson was the Business Secretary in the UK government under then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown. He was appointed UK ambassador to the United States in December 2024.

Sky News asked him if he did, indeed, stay at Epstein’s flat while the disgraced financier was in jail.

He replied: “I’m not answering any questions about him. My knowledge of him is something I regret, I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”

Asked why he had an association with Epstein whilst he was in jail, Lord Mandelson replied: “Why did many people meet him? He was a prolific networker. And I wish I’d never met him in the first place.”

As US ambassador, Lord Mandelson represents Britain’s interests in Washington and has vowed to treat Donald Trump‘s administration with “respect, seriousness and understanding of where they are coming from politically”.

This comes after Lord Mandelson described the US president as a “danger to the world”, for which he apologised earlier this year.

He told the Alain Elkann Interviews podcast in 2019: “What Donald Trump represents and believes is an anathema to mainstream British opinion.”

Mr Mandelson added: “Even those who have a sneaking admiration for Donald Trump because of his personality, nonetheless regard him as reckless, and a danger to the world.”

But in January this year, Lord Mandelson said he now considered his remarks “as ill-judged and wrong”.

World

Palestinians flock to Gaza aid centres despite concerns – as lawyers call for sanctions on Israel

Published

2 hours ago

May 27, 2025

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Palestinians flock to Gaza aid centres despite concerns - as lawyers call for sanctions on Israel

Thousands of Palestinians have flocked to aid distribution sites in Gaza with desperation for food overcoming concerns over Israeli-enforced checks at the centres.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which is backed by Israel and the US, said on Tuesday it had distributed around 8,000 food boxes, equivalent to about 462,000 meals – just a fraction of what is needed, aid agencies say.

The centres have opened as hundreds of legal professionals in the UK, including lawyers and former judges, accused Israel of “genocide” and “war crimes”.

Crowds including women and children could be seen at one centre in Rafah, southern Gaza, where people received packages including rice, flour, canned beans, pasta, olive oil, biscuits and sugar.

Witnesses in Rafah said Israeli gunfire was heard after desperate people broke fences to reach supplies.

The Israeli military said its forces did not direct aerial gunfire towards the centre, but rather fired warning shots in an area outside the hub.

In a statement, it said control over the situation had been established, with aid distribution to continue as planned.

Many Palestinians stayed away amid fears over Israel’s plan to use biometric screening procedures on those receiving vital food packages.

Israeli officials said one advantage of the new aid system is the chance to screen recipients to exclude anyone they say is connected with Hamas.

Humanitarian groups briefed on the plans say anyone receiving aid will have to submit to facial recognition technology – which many Palestinians fear will end up in Israeli hands to track and possibly target them.

Father-of-seven Abu Ahmed said: “As much as I want to go because I am hungry and my children are hungry, I am afraid.”

He continued: “I am so scared because they said the company [GHF] belongs to Israel and is a mercenary, and also because the resistance [Hamas] said not to go.”

UN boycotts aid foundation

Israel previously said its forces would not be involved in the distribution points but its endorsement of the plan, which resembles Israeli schemes floated previously, has led to many questioning the neutrality of GHF.

The United Nations and major international aid groups have refused to cooperate with the GHF – accusing it of undermining the principle that aid should be distributed based on need.

“Humanitarian assistance must not be politicised or militarised,” said Christian Cardon, chief spokesperson of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Ex-judges call for sanctions on Israel

Over 800 legal professionals – including former Supreme Court judges – have published an open letter calling for the UK to impose sanctions on Israel.

The letter says “genocide is being perpetrated in Gaza or that, at a minimum, there is a serious risk of genocide”. It continues: “War crimes, crimes against humanity and serious violations of international humanitarian law are being committed.”

Israel has consistently denied these accusations.

As a small flow of aid has arrived in Gaza after Israel’s months-long blockade, Israeli forces have kept up attacks on various targets in the territory.

Some 3,901 Palestinians have been killed since a ceasefire collapsed in mid-March, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.

As the GHF centres opened on Monday, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 36 people in a school-turned-shelter that was hit as people slept, according to local health officials.

Israel said it targeted militants operating from the school.

US