Trying to "siphon holiday shopping away from
traditional retail," the NFL is "making a major play" with
NFL.com, according to Eric Fisher of the WASHINGTON TIMES,
who reported that the league will "take on" Wal-Mart,
JCPenney and "every other retail titan for the next four
weeks with its first major holiday Internet sales push."
Customized replica jerseys, a "very hot seller" the NFL is
not "letting any other retailer touch," will be the "most
prominently featured" product in a "massive" TV advertising
campaign running during NFL games. Fisher reported that the
NFL is "projecting" to end 2000 with more than $35M in
direct-to-consumer sales, including Internet, catalog and TV
home shopping sales, more than triple from direct-to-
consumer sales in '99, and "good enough to be one of its top
10 individual retail points" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 11/26).
BLACK FRIDAY? USA TODAY's Lorrie Grant reports that the
National Retail Federation estimated 68 million people went
shopping on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, a 10%
increase in shopping traffic from the same day last year.
Retail sales for the holiday shopping period are due to rise
6% above the $186B spent last year. Meanwhile, Visa cards
hit a peak on Friday afternoon at 2:00pm ET, with 3,032.5
transactions a second, up 13% from '99's Friday peak.
Online sales were "robust," with Nielsen//NetRatings
reporting that home Internet users going to e-commerce sites
on Friday "jumped" 27% from the same day last year (USA
TODAY, 11/27). In N.Y., Leslie Kaufman reported that
predictions for holiday shopping have "been all over the
map." Merrill Lynch Retail Economist Daniel Barry predicts
sales growth of only 2.5%, the worst since '90. But the
National Retail Federation estimates that apparel and home
furnishings will rise "a strong" 5.5-6.5% in November and
December, and the AmEx Retail Index is "showing an expected
increase" in sales of 8% (N.Y. TIMES, 11/25).