Black Friday: what does it mean? And how is it doing in 2024?

Black Friday is an expression that originated because traditionally, large American retailers arrived on this date having covered all costs (wages and salaries, rent, supplier payments, interest on loans, and taxes). Everything they sold from Black Friday onwards was pure profit, until 31 December, and thus brought their budgets into the black. In the US, despite a difficult start, record figures for e-commerce

Quick Take — US retailers lengthen Black Friday offer periods to attract shrinking shoppers

Walmart, Amazon, Target and Macy’s are among the US retailers already offering steep discounts under the Black Friday banner, long before it actually arrives this week. Despite this, sales of non-food units fell by 3% year-on-year in the week ending 16 November, according to data from Circana, which compiles data from retail outlets. The National Retail Federation predicts that winter holiday sales will reach nearly $1 trillion in the US in November and December, a record $902 per person. But the rate of spending growth is expected to be about 2.5-3.5%, the slowest since 2018

Quick Take — Walmart beats forecasts and inflation

Like-for-like sales in the US were up 5.3 per cent, with the number of transactions net of fuel up 3.1 per cent. Among the biggest drivers of sales were food products, where the number of units sold was the highest in four years, and pharmaceuticals, where Walmart reported an increase in sales of GLP-1 weight loss drugs. E-commerce sales in the US increased by 22%

What is amazing is that Walmart continued to expand its market share in the third quarter, with sales from households earning more than $100,000 a year accounting for three-quarters of the gains – in terms of share gains – in the US, CEO Doug McMillon told analysts.

compiled 19 November, updated 21 November 2024

The Caprotti family and Coop: the sale of Esselunga, Aldo Soldi and ‘Sickle and Cart’

... This news is almost contemporaneous with a proposal of mine, in October 2004, to buy the majority share of Esselunga, a proposal that was rejected. At this point there was talk of four other offers, in particular one from the American giant Walmart; and Aldo Soldi, since 2004 president of ANCC - Coop, the National Association of Consumer Cooperatives, also expressed interest in buying it, because a move into foreign hands would have been a disaster for the Italian food economy. An unwise move, which will be among the reasons why Bernardo will publish his book Sickle and Cart in 2007.