Mobiquity Technologies, Inc. released its’ first annual Black Friday report highlighting foot traffic to some of the largest retail locations across America.
Of note, mall foot traffic was up 91% above an average weekend. Inclement weather across much of the country appears to have kept many people at home on Black Friday, but Southern, Mid-Atlantic and New England states enjoyed nice weather and saw the largest increases in shopping mall foot traffic. “Published retail sales figures suggest a decline of in-store Black Friday shopping, but our data suggests the mall is still a destination for families and Santa visits, even if they may not be going there to shop,” said Paul Bauersfeld, CTO of Mobiquity Technologies. “Our data is confirming the transition many malls are making to family entertainment centers.”
Target stores were among the highest performing brick-and-mortar shopping locations on Black Friday, with an 84% lift over the average Saturday foot traffic, and 155% over a normal Friday. Walmart had higher volumes due to a larger number of stores nationwide but saw a more modest 42% boost in traffic.
Lingerie was the biggest retail category standout this past weekend, with foot traffic to stores nearly twice the growth of other popular gifting categories such as jewelry and apparel. Toys, children’s apparel and camping/outdoor retail outlets also saw significant gains as would be expected from historically popular holiday gift categories.
Mobiquity’s analysis highlights a significant increase in baseline Friday traffic levels, but only modest increases over baseline Saturdays, suggesting Black Friday looked more like a slightly above average Saturday than the door busting retail stampede observed in years’ past.
Mobiquity measures in-store foot traffic post advertising campaign exposure, to better provide marketers with an understanding of how their advertising investments perform. “We’ve been increasingly tasked to look at the emerging retailer ‘BOPIS’ trend: Buy-Online-Pickup-In-Store,” continued Paul. “Our data not only helps advertisers understand the real-world nature of digital audiences but also helps enable brick-and-mortar retailers measure their success in bridging online sales channels through digital transformation.”
To see excerpts of the report and the top 25 retail categories by store traffic visit: