Nation’s Restaurant News: The Internet Takes Over Black Friday

Every year retailers and restaurants expect to see big increase in foot traffic on Black Friday. But this year, more consumers decided to stay at home with leftovers to do their shopping. According to a recent Nation’s Restaurant News article, retail foot traffic was down from last year during the holiday weekend.

The National Retail Federation reported that 99 million headed to retail stores this year while 103 million shopped online, compared to last year where 102 million people shopped in stores and 103 million people shopped on their computers at home.

Although the holiday shopping season is not an important to restaurants as it is to retailers, many restaurants in malls and shopping centers plan for the increase in foot traffic. The increased amount of shopping that is being done online is forcing both industries to adapt. Retailers have started to depend on restaurants to bring in steady traffic instead of the other way around, but both are seeing decreased foot traffic.

In addition, consumers spent less this holiday weekend overall. The average spending per person was $289.19, which is down from the $299.60 that the average person spent in 2015.