Wedbush Offers a Review of Black Friday'; Says Old Navy is a 'Clear Winner'

Video may have killed the radio star, but has online shopping killed the traditional Black Friday craze? According to a note from Wedbush's Morry Brown, that just may be the case. Whether it be the shift to online shopping or retailers decision to expand the Black Friday promotions over a longer period of time, one thing is for sure, we are not seeing the same spike in in-store sales as we used to. According to a Channel Advisor report, compared to last year online sales increased 20 percent on Thanksgiving and 22 percent on Black Friday. Furthermore, Shopper Trak reported a 0.5 percent drop in traditional in-store sales over the same time frame. Despite this shift, at least one store was able to drag shoppers out of bed early Friday morning. According to Brown, Gap

owned Old Navy was consistently called out by the firm's checkers as one of the only stores to maintain the traditional Black Friday spike. How did Old Navy land above the curve? Brown suggested it may have something to do with the "50 percent off the entire store" promotion, which was consistent with previous year. In addition to Old Navy, Brown noted Zumiez, Inc.

was able to maintain its "strong momentum from back-to-school". despite any Black Friday specific promotions. Though we appear to be in a shift away from the traditional Black Friday craze, it seems the shoppers are only changing how and when they shop.