With unemployment and inflation low and consumer confidence high, the holiday shopping season started out strong as more than 174 million Americans shopped either in stores or online over the long Thanksgiving weekend. That beat National Retail Federation’s prediction that there would be about 164 million shoppers.

TJ

E-commerce continues to cannibalize in-store sales. There is a 17% increase in online sales projected. That said, bricks and mortar retail has also been strong. Retailers have fought back with special products and iterations of products that are only sold in stores and not online. And, let’s face it, some people enjoy camping on sidewalks and then wilding through the retail landscape.

I checked the online videos and violence and atrocious behavior did appear to be down considerably. Unfortunately, there were a number of deaths. In Southern New Jersey a man was fatally shot and his brother wounded in a mall parking lot. Another person was shot at a mall in Memphis. In Reno, Nevada a Wal-Mart customer was gunned down in a fight over a parking space. Several people were also killed in Chicago although that’s not so different from any other day in the Windy City.

Personally, I’m not interested in being anywhere near a retail outlet on Black Friday weekend except maybe the neighborhood wine shop. When it comes to holiday shopping, count me “all in” for e-commerce.

Happy Sell Through Season,

Tom Keoughan