It’s Cyber Monday.
Across the U.S., Thanksgiving leftovers are lingering in refrigerators as families return to the daily grind of work and school. At retail, the messes of the big weekend are getting cleaned up as analysts and pundits — including yours truly —are trying to make sense of the latest data in a season of duality.
Mixed messages are a fact of life these days and the annual holiday rush has certainly not been immune to the phenomenon. Depending on the source, either business is booming or the stores are empty. And, in this case, both can be true.
According to Adobe Analytics, digital sales spiked 2.3% over last year to hit a record $9.2 billion on Black Friday, jumping more than 200% versus a typical shopping day in October. MasterCard Spending Pulse, which measures both physical and digital sales across all forms of payment, says that overall U.S. retail sales spiked 12% on Black Friday. Additionally, the organization says in-store sales jumped 12% while e-commerce sales spiked 14% versus Black Friday in 2021.
While promotional pricing is swinging back to its pre-pandemic ways, the “doorbuster” appears to be dead.
With few exceptions, reports from across the country note the lack of early morning long lines at the big boxes that were traditionally driven by those limited-time, limited-quantity offerings. Additionally, the “pull-forward” effect of extended Black Friday deals that began in 2020 has continued, leading many consumers to shop earlier as “Black Friday” deals began emerging in early October.
On Friday, I visited a few stores here in Illinois and found the biggest crowds at the warehouse clubs — Costco and Sam’s Club — both with packed aisles, long lines at the checkouts, and welcome clusters of folks checking out the toy selection.
It’s too soon to tell how the weekend played out for the U.S. toy industry as a whole, but one thing is certain: mass retailers and department stores have to start doing a better job of maintaining customer experience at store level. I’m at risk of sounding like a cranky old man shaking his fist at the clouds here, but back when I was in the retail business in the ’90s, there was encouragement from the top down to take ownership in your work. From store management to department managers and associates, everyone chipped in to make sure that the shelves were stocked, messes were cleaned up, and customers could leave happy knowing that they found what they were looking for.
Now, it’s not uncommon to see absolutely demolished toy departments that look like they’ve been attacked by Gremlins.
One great bright spot for the holiday weekend is that the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade — which was very toyetic this year — pulled in its highest viewership in the past five years. According to Variety, the parade caught the attention of more than 27.7 million viewers across NBC and Peacock.
I’m curious to know if the Toys “R” Us float drove families to Toys “R” Us at Macy’s this weekend. The LEGO Group worked with Toys “R” Us to create a replica of the float, crafted from more than 2,300 pieces, that has been added to the LEGO Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade display at Macy’s Herald Square flagship in New York City.
Tomorrow, the National Retail Federation (NRF) will reveal the results of this year’s five-day Thanksgiving weekend shopping event during a media call at 11 am ET. Stay tuned to The Toy Book for all the data as we have it.
P.S. 2023 is coming up fast!
By now, I hope you’ve had a chance to check out The Toy Book‘s 2022 Innovation & STEM issue. If not, flip through it right here and let me know what you think! Our team is already hard at work on The BIG Toy Book (Vol. 39, No. 1) that will be released in late February 2023 due to Toy Fair (New York) moving to September along with the increased importance of ToyFest (Las Vegas) and the launch of our new event, The Play Date, presented by The Toy Book, The Toy Insider, and The Toy Association.
Now is the time to get involved, as editorial submissions close on Dec. 22. Get all the details on how to take part right here.
