A day to remember: Black Friday 2011

Well, Black Friday will not be around for another year.  One more story on Black Friday with a different take is definitely in order.

Black Friday sales were phenomenal.  I would be hard pressed to find a store, either bricks & mortar or cyber-based, that did not pull in some great sales numbers.

Three quarters of all the Apple retailers sold out of the iPhone 4S by the close of Friday.  And nearly one-third were sold out at the end of Saturday.

Stores that opened their doors on the Thursday evening before Black Friday did even better.  Target and Wal-Mart reported a good portion of their inventory was sold by the time Black Friday was in full swing.

Electronics sales were the big department that performed exceptionally well this year.  Smartphones, tablets, computers and large-screen TVs were the leaders.

Shoppers spent an average of $398.62 on Black Friday.  Last year it was $365.34 average spent per shopper.

An interesting figure is “conversion.”  This is the number of shoppers vs. the number of shoppers that actually make purchases.

Yes, there are people who go into a store, roam around looking and eventually leave without purchasing anything.  The NPD Group reports a 24 percent increase in conversion from last year.

All of this spending has definitely added to the local and national economies all over the world.  Not only has the economy received a boost, but also the stores’ stock prices have jumped up.

The jump in stock prices makes retirement and pension funds happy along with those who are retired.

Black Friday was a great starting point for this year’s holiday season.  Did you spend more or less than the average of $398.62?

Picture from shefinds.com.