U.S. Black Friday Retail Tech Sales Decline

No wonder, I'm getting spammed with technology product promotions like no other year ever—for online retail. Today, NPD reported that U.S. Black Friday brick-and-mortar retail technology product sales declined 8.4 percent year over year. Spending was less than 2006—and that's without adjusting for inflation. Ouch!

Consumers spent $2.03 billion, compared with $2.21 billion a year ago, at brick-and-mortar retail stores. Online Black Friday sales rose 1 percent, according to ComScore. But sales were much lower—$534 million.

Black Friday has generally been a day of big promotions, but not this year. ComScore earlier reported big online promotions, and I observed many, but NPD found fewer in stores this year.

"Promos weren't as good, outside of TVs, simply because better pricing would not have brought out more customers," Stephen Baker, NPD's vice president of industry analysis, told me last this afternoon. "If [people] have no money, you can't make prices cheap enough to get people to buy."

NPD surveyed consumers in November and found them in "no rush to spend." In a July survey, 28 percent of consumers said that sales incentives, such as discounts, would affect spending; 29 percent in November. Looked at differently: In July, 34 percent of consumers said sales discounts would make no difference—and 35 percent in November.

So what's the point of offering promotions that won't bring more sales?

Black Friday "deals mimicked a typical weekend sale" rather than kicking off the holiday season, Stephen said. He emphasized that this year's Black Friday tech sales decline is "not a one-time reaction to [economic] circumstances but the beginning of a change in the overall concept" of the day after Thanksgiving.

Consumers are also changing how they shop, and not necessarily by choice. CompUSA and Tweeter are gone. Circuit City has filed for bankruptcy. There are fewer chains from which to buy technology products, outside of home entertainment. Then there is the increasing shift to online shopping, where there are good promotions. Is it no surprise then that Microsoft now operates its own online store? The times they are a changing.

There is one tech category that shines bright with sales: notebooks. Unit shipments rose 19 percent and revenue increased 8 percent on Black Friday, according to NPD. It's also a category where there are promising promotions, even in stores.

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