BLOOMBERG: Black Friday Sales Numbers Are Meaningless

Don't believe the hype.

Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Bloomberg's Michael McKee explains why you shouldn’t get excited over reports of sales gains on Black Friday.

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The following chart from Merrill Lynch demonstrates that since 2006 there has been little correlation between Black Friday numbers and total holiday sales.

It pays to look at data, not hype.

Comments

[Cheyenne]

Ritholtz provides a tight compendium of 8 mainstream media news stories that parrot meaningless buying expectation surveys before Black Friday. The survey is from the #1 spendaholic advocacy council, the National Retail Federation, and yet the media report its "findings" as if gospel.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2012/11/black-fridays-media-hall-of-shame

With the real economy swirling down the drain, expect more and more expectation- and sentiment-based "data" to circulate as the popular press contains nothing but propaganda.

[SKINFLINT]

The real deal is this. I have had three friends of mine who own small businesses. Mom and Pop run stuff which is to say, Mom is shagging down calls while Pop is out workin it and running out calls. GONE. Just like that. DONE. Two after 20 plus years. Friend number one cut his boys loose. Friend number two took on with someone else. Friend number three left the state completely and moved out west. This after 10 plus years. He sent a letter out sayin it was too much. Kind of depressing actually. Small town blues. Just horrible.