Wal-Mart Reports 10M In-Store Transactions On Thanksgiving

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Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) announced Friday that its stores and website witnessed a record traffic on Thanksgiving day. Its decision to kick off the holiday deals earlier proved to be successful. Along with several other retailers, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) opened at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day. This holiday shopping season has six fewer days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That prompted retailers to start holiday deals early to boost sales.

Wal-Mart’s best-selling products

Over one million customers participated in its One-Hour Guarantee program. On Thanksgiving, the world’s largest retailer recorded 10 million in-store transactions between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) said its website received more than 400 million page views on Thursday. Even through the Arkansas-based retailer started offering holiday deals on Nov. 1, millions of shoppers ventured out to stores on Thursday.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) said big-ticket electronic items such as TVs, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iPad Air were among the best-selling products. The company also sold more than 1.9 million dolls, 1.4 million tablets, 2.8 million towels, 300,000 bicycles and 2 million televisions. However, SLR digital cameras and hand-held video games topped sales on its website.

Target Corp. not far behind Wal-Mart

Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) too recorded stupendous sales on Thanksgiving. The company opened its stores at 8 p.m. Thursday. Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) said its online sales on Thursday were among the highest single day sales it has ever seen. Its online orders were twice the previous year’s on Thanksgiving. Its best-selling items included Beats by Dr. Dre headphones, TVs, Nikon cameras, and Nintendo 3DS XL.

The National Retail Federation said that about 140 million people are expected to shop this Black Friday weekend, down from 147 million last year. Shoppers had spent $60 billion during last year’s holiday weekend, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Hourly store associates at Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) will receive $70 million in combined holiday pay. The company has also announced it would give 25% discount on any purchase to employees who worked on Thanksgiving Day.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) shares were little changed at $80.97, while Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT) shares were down 0.64% to $64.01 at 11:16 AM EST.

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