The American Dream mall in East Rutherford, NJ, lured Black Friday shoppers with giveaways for the first 500 visitors, which included postcards with codes for free tickets to its attractions, such as Angry Birds Mini Golf. The 3 million-square-foot mall also rolled out its “Wheel of Wins” which offers shoppers who spend $200 a chance to spin to win one of several prizes, including ten 65-inch Samsung QLED Smart TVs from Best Buy, from every Monday and Wednesday from November 28 to December 21.
Shopping malls saw far and above average visits, according to Black Friday data from foot traffic analytics firm Placer.ai. Indoor malls saw visits up 261% compared to the daily average for Q1-Q3 2022, outlet malls saw visits up almost 366%, and open-air lifestyle centers saw visits up around 151%.
“As we expected, Black Friday deals and the in-store experience attracted shoppers, resulting in a solid turnout this year,” said Brian Field, global leader of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic Solutions. “The pandemic-driven trend of shopping in unenclosed shopping centers has endured and malls are seeing resurgence as well. Our data shows consumers continue to enjoy the benefits of the brick-and-mortar shopping.”
Cyber Monday
While Black Friday looks like it was a record breaker, Cyber Monday is expected to remain the season’s and year’s biggest shopping day, driving a record $11.2 billion in spending, increasing 5.1% year-over-year, according to Adobe Analytics’ online shopping forecast for the 2022 holiday season.
[See also: Holiday Retail Forecasts and Predictions for 2022]
“Even though we expect to see single-digit growth online this season, it is notable that consumers have already spent over $590 billion online this year (Jan. to Aug. 2022) at 8.9% growth, highlighting the resiliency of e-commerce demand,” said Patrick Brown, vice president of growth marketing and insights at Adobe.
The National Retail Federation expects 63.9 million consumers to shop online during Cyber Monday.
[See more: Thanksgiving Weekend: What’s Ahead for Retailers Black Friday Through Cyber Monday]