These Brands Just Went All-Out On Black Friday Promotions

In a report issued Friday, Piper Jaffray analysts Erinn E. Murphy and Christof R. Fischer shared some conclusions drawn from their preliminary store checks performed on Thanksgiving day.

On Thursday evening, analysts at Piper Jaffray visited malls and big box retailers “during the initial 6 PM store openings.” The firm will continue to monitor trends over the weekend, but their initial observations are as follows:

First off, they noticed that traffic was strong at the open on Thanksgiving; this was evidenced by 100 percent full parking lots in the firm’s local Texas market. And, apparently, electronics and cosmetics were the must-have items.

A few retailers did not open at all. Among them were Nordstrom, Inc. JWN, Dillard's, Inc. DDS, H&M and Zara.

Teen retailers offered, similar to last year, 40-50 percent discount in their entire stores. Interestingly, apparel inventory levels were especially high, and footwear, noticeable more promotional than a year ago.

Among the brands that appeared more promotional year-over-year, the experts counted Deckers Outdoor Corp DECK, GoPro Inc GPRO, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd KORS, Ralph Lauren Corp RL, Steven Madden, Ltd. SHOO and Under Armour Inc UA.

Finally, Murphy and Fischer pointed out that, thus far, PVH Corp PVH seems to be similar to last year with their heritage brands and CKJ at wholesale.

A few other things to notice included:

• Retailers experimented with varied hours. Analysts believe this was “an attempt to limit the potential payroll deleverage brought about by the longer-store hours and more ‘spread out’ traffic patterns.”
• “Apparel Categories Within Macy's, Inc. M Appeared To Have Higher Levels Of Inventory; Brand Specific Observations Varied.”

Disclosure: Javier Hasse holds no positions in any of the securities mentioned above.