The official kick off to Black Friday Weekend began as early as last night for retailers across the country. From department stores like Macy’s, whose Chairman, President and CEO Terry Lundgren said stores had “midnight traffic this year surpass 2011″ traffic levels, to specialty stores like Best Buy, whose shoppers sat through the cold Wednesday night and Thursday to get their hands on this year’s hottest gadgets, it’s evident that retailers’ deals are striking the right chord with shoppers so far.
NRF’s President and CEO Matthew Shay joined CNBC’s Squawk on the Street this morning to discuss his expectations for the holiday season and the impact of Thanksgiving night and midnight Black Friday openings on holiday sales. Shay also discussed the implications of the fiscal cliff and how it could play a role in holiday shoppers’ purchase decisions this year. View the segment below.
Later in the morning, Shay also joined Bloomberg’s Market Makers to discuss his expectations for consumer spending over the next few weeks and factors that could impact NRF’s 4.1 percent holiday sales forecast, including the fiscal cliff, online shopping and consumers’ financial stability. Watch his segment below.
One Comment
NRF does a consistently credible job of predicting and analyzing shopper data. With a diverse and massive shopping universe here in the States, that’s no easy task. Well done, NRF.