NEW YORK - Major retailers like Target and Macy’s offered holiday discounts in early November and opened stores on Thanksgiving Day this year in an effort to attract shoppers before Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving that traditionally kicks off the holiday shopping season.
Those tactics drew bigger crowds but failed to motivate Americans to spend.
A record 141 million people were expected to shop in stores and online over the four-day Thanksgiving weekend that ended Sunday, up from last year’s 137 million, according to the results of a survey of nearly 4,500 shoppers conducted for the National Retail Federation.
But total spending was expected to fall for the first time since the trade group began tracking it in 2006, according to the survey that was released Sunday. Over the four days, the survey projects, spending fell an estimated 2.9 percent, or $1.7billion, to $57.4 billion.
Over the weekend, consumers spent $407.02 on average, a 3.9 percent decline from $423.55 last year, the National Retail Federation predicted in an emailed statement.
The survey underscores the challenges stores have faced since the recession began in late 2007. Retailers had to offer deeper discounts to get people to shop during the downturn, but Americans still expect those 70 percent-off signs.
“The economy spoke loud and clear over the past few days,” said Brian Sozzi, CEO and chief equities strategist at Belus Capital Advisors. “We are going to see an increase in markdowns.”
Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, said that the survey results only represent one weekend in what is typically the biggest shopping period of the year. The combined months of November and December can account for up to 40 percent of retailers’ revenue.
Overall, Shay said, the trade group still expects sales for the combined two months to increase 3.9 percent to $602.1 billion. That’s higher than the 3.5 percent pace in the previous year.
To achieve that growth, retailers will likely have to offer big sales events, analysts say. In a stronger economy, people who shopped early would continue to shop throughout the season. But that’s not the case in this tough economic climate.
“It’s pretty clear that in the current environment, customers expect promotions,” Shay said. “Absent promotions, they’re not really spending.”
The retail federation also said altercations involving shoppers in stores on Black Friday seemed to decline this year.
Data released Saturday from the research firm ShopperTrak, which collects data from more than 700 retailers, painted a more optimistic picture of Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday shopping in brick-and-mortar stores.
ShopperTrak found that sales were off 13.2 percent on Black Friday. But more stores were open on Thanksgiving this year, and for longer hours, and the combined sales Thursday and Friday were actually up 2.3 percent from the same two days last year.
“The Thursday store openings did well,” said Bill Martin, ShopperTrak’s founder. “But a lot of it was at the expense of Black Friday.”
And while sales increased for the two-day period, he continued, there are additional costs associated with being open on Thanksgiving, like holiday pay for employees.
Retailers lured shoppers to their stores and websites during the unofficial start to the Christmas shopping season with discounts ranging from a $98 32-inch flat-screen television from Wal-Mart to a Nook e-reader for $39 at Barnes & Noble.
Tuesday Trasvina, 37, said she’s been bombarded with holiday discounts since early November. Trasvina, a marketing coordinator, plans to spend $500 on gifts, about a quarter of what she spent last year.
“They’ve been stretching out this Black Friday thing so long,” said Trasvina, who was shopping with her husband on Friday at a Target store in Portland, Ore. “I just think the overcommercialization of the holiday has gotten to us.”
A Kmart store in New York City that opened at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving and stayed open for 41 hours straight waspacked on the holiday. Clothing was marked down anywhere from 30 percent to 50 percent.
Adriana Tavaraz, 51, headed there about 4 p.m. and spent $105 on ornaments, Santa hats and other Christmas decor. She saved about 50 percent.
But it’s not likely Tavaraz will head out to stores too many more times this holiday season. Money is tight this year because of rising costs for food and rent, and Tavaraz already spent much of her $200 budget.
“Nowadays, you have to think about what you spend,” she said. “You have to think about tomorrow.” Information for this article was contributed by Anne D’Innocenzio of The Associated Press, by Elizabeth A. Harris of The New York Times and by Matt Townsend of Bloomberg News.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 12/02/2013