Black Friday Shopping Like There Is No Tomorrow?

By now the broader population has been inundated with reports of what a stunning retail experience Black Friday was. And for those who haven't just head over to CNBC: "Sales rose an estimated 6.6 percent to a record $11.4 billion on Black Friday, typically the busiest shopping day of the year for Americans, while the traffic at stores rose 5.1 percent, according to ShopperTrak. The day's sales growth was the strongest percentage gain since 2007, when sales rose 8.3 percent on the day after Thanksgiving, said Ed Marcheselli, chief marketing officer at ShopperTrak, which monitors retail traffic." This is happening despite the savings rate recently dropping to pre-Depressionary level, and despite revolving consumer credit (as in not cars and colleges), continuing to contract. That there is more than enough fine print will be largely irrelevant for the mainstream media which will naturally trumpet this as the next best thing to the S&P actually rising for once: "More than 120 stores at the Mall of America opened at midnight. The crowd at that point was about 15,000 people. Mall operators estimated that it was the largest crowd ever at the mall, which is big enough to hold seven Yankee Stadiums. While eager shoppers emerged from stores around the country lugging big-screen TVs and bags full of video games and toys, it was far from certain that people will pull out their wallets for much more than the best deals this year. Shoppers with limited budgets started using layaway at chains such as Walmart as early as October. Retail shares fell more than the overall market on Friday. "Americans are still worried about jobs, still worried about the economy," said Mike Thielmann, group executive vice president at J.C. Penney, who noted that shoppers were buying gifts and for themselves, and said jewelry was selling well." Yet what really caught our attention was the Retail Group comparison of this "record" black Friday Weekend. From Bloomberg: 'RETAIL GROUP SAYS SECOND-BEST BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND WAS IN 2008." As a reminder, Thanksgiving 2008 happened just after a nearly 400 point plunge in the S&P in two months as can be seen in the chart below. Which begs the question: with the world on the verge every single day once again, is it a coincidence that people spent more than they did only compared to 2008 when the world was once again ending. In other words, did Americans really spend "like there is no tomorrow" (more so than ever that is)... and what happens when the bill (because there is no doubt the purchasing was entirely on credit) is in the mailbox?

S&P heading into Thanksgiving 2008: must have done miracles for consumer confidence and desire to spend...

And for those who like comparative charting, is the action in 2008 predicting something very ugly for the immediate future, now that Joe Sixpack has spent themselves broke?

And some other indicative headlines from the Retail Federation courtesy of Bloomberg:

• RECORD 226 MLN SHOPPED OVER U.S. HOLIDAY WEEKEND, SURVEY FINDS
• MEN OUTSPENT AND OUTSHOPPED WOMEN,' NRF'S ELLEN DAVIS SAYS
• NATIONAL RETAIL FEDERATION COMMENTS IN E-MAILED STATEMENT
  
• U.S. HOLIDAY SHOPPER SPENT $398.62, RETAIL GROUP SURVEY SAYS
  
• TOTAL U.S. SPENDING WAS RECORD $52.4 BLN, RETAIL SURVEY FINDS
  
• U.S. SHOPPERS SPENT $150.53 ON ONLINE PURCHASES, GROUP SAYS
• 28.7 MLN PEOPLE SHOPPED ONLINE, AT STORES, UP FROM 22.2 MLN
  
• 51.4% OF SPENDING WENT TO CLOTHING, ACCESSORIES, SURVEY FINDS
  
• DEPARTMENT STORES MOST POPULAR DESTINATION, RETAIL GROUP SAYS
  
• RETAIL FEDERATION CONDUCTED SURVEY THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY
  
• MORE `SELF-GIFTING' THIS YEAR, NATL RETAIL FEDERATION SAYS
• RETAIL GROUP SAYS MORE PURCHASING IN DISCRETIONARY CATEGORIES
• BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND MAKES UP ABOUT 10% OF HOLIDAY SALES: NRF
• NRF WON'T CONSIDER REVISING FORECAST UNTIL NOV. SALES REPORTED
• RETAIL GROUP SAYS SECOND-BEST BLACK FRIDAY WEEKEND WAS IN 2008

Comments

[Rynak]

Are the numbers "real-inflation" adjusted?

Oh nevermind, sorry i asked, of course comsumers in this system, will ever spent more FIAT, than in earlier years.

[dolph9]

I will never understand why people spend money on useless shit.  Then again, Bernanke is making it known that we better spend the money.  These sheeple are, despite their behavior, not the suckers.  The sucker is the guy who saves money in a bank, getting 0%, thinking that it means anything and will hold value.

Let them have their waffle makers.  I'll take beans, bullets, and bullion.

[Dr. Goose]

When consumers queued up in a quorum, 
To do as investors implore 'em, 
They bought quite a bit 
Of Holiday sh*t, 
And forgot all their debts and decorum. 

http://www.limericksecon.com

[SystemsGuy]

Took my daughter to Toys R Us, mostly just to see how "insane" the crowds really were.

Crowds were marginally higher than was typical, but six manned cash registers sat empty the bulk of the time I was there, mid-afternoon on Friday.

All that's happened over the weekend is that demand over the next month has been pushed forward into a four day period. B&N same story - lots of people shopping, few people buying.

By Dec 15, those stores are going to be ghost towns. 

[Totentänzerlied]

It's all about the positive feedback loop between building tension (dopamine, adrenalin) and climax (endorphins), do enough of the first and a person will do just about anything to reach the second.

It's as if Rodney Dangerfield told all those shoppers standing outside Walmart in 30 degree weather at 3 am with their 20% API credit cards, "Hey everybody, we're all getting laid!", and biochemically, they pretty much did.

Was it good for you, American Consumer?

[mkkby]

Shows you how easy it's going to be to round everyone up for the FEMA camps.  Just tell they they can get $2 off on a waffle iron.