Black Friday still a rave in Idaho

Based on 2017 data, Black Friday was the best sales day of the year for Idaho retailers and one of the top 3 days for 40 of the 50 states. For Idaho retailers, Black Friday was the first-best revenue-generating day of the year, about 128.5 percent better than an average day.

Small Business Saturday was much less significant. In 2017, it was the 226th best sales day and revenue was about 35.4 percent below the national average. Cyber Monday was the 271st busiest day, and generated about 47.7 percent less revenue than an average day.

The research comes from Womply, a national, small-business software company, which completed a detailed review of retail business activity in Idaho.

Meanwhile, a Washington State University-Carson College of Business survey finds Black Friday is less of an event than it used to be.

The WSU research shows 85 percent of Idaho consumers feel Black Friday “used to be an event”. Now, it says, Cyber Monday is taking the lead. Only 54 percent of Idaho consumers said they plan to shop Black Friday.

At the same time, though, the study found that 61 percent of Idaho shoppers prefer in-store shopping as compared to 53 percent in the rest of the Pacific Northwest.

Black Friday shopping is particularly big with “Generation Z”. 67 percent of “Gen-Z” respondents told the university they plan to shop on Black Friday this year. 81 percent like to shop in-store.

According to Womply research, a small business retailer in Idaho completes 9.5 transactions of $141 or more on an average day, resulting in $1,337 in daily revenue. Womply says that is 15.2 percent lower than the national average, #28 among the states between North Dakota at #27 and Hawaii at #29.

The firm’s data indicates an Idaho retailer averages 27.3 percent fewer daily transactions than their national counterparts, but their customers spend 16.5 percent more per purchase than national consumers.

The company says independent retailers do much of their business on Saturdays, about 36.4 percent better than their “average” day. It is also the day that customers spend the most per purchase. Sunday is typically the slowest day for Idaho retailers.

The week leading up to Christmas Eve is the single best week for local retailers in 39 states and was among the top three weeks of the year for 84 percent of retailers nationwide.

But, in Idaho, Womply found retailers’ best week was the period between August 27 and September 2, which was 137 percent higher than their average week. The average Idaho retailer makes 9.7 percent of their annual revenue in May alone. January is typically the slowest month for retailers and only generates 6.6 percent of their annual revenue.

The second best week was the period of May 28 to June 3 and the third best week was the period between February 19 and February 25.

According to the analysis, Idaho retailers average $1,186 in daily revenue between Thanksgiving and Christmas, an 11.3 percent drop from their average day. They serve 13.2 percent more customers than in an average day, but customers’ average purchase price decreases by 21.6 percent.

You can view the Womply report here.

And, here is the complete Washington State University survey.