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Placer.ai November 2024 Mall Index: Black Friday Boosts Mall Visits

Explore the Placer.ai Mall Index performance for November 2024, including insights into Black Friday trends and statistics.

By 
Shira Petrack
December 10, 2024
Placer.ai November 2024 Mall Index: Black Friday Boosts Mall Visits
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The Index analyzes data from 100 top-tier indoor malls, 100 open-air shopping centers (not including outlet malls) and 100 outlet malls across the country, in both urban and suburban areas. Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the country. 
Key Takeaways
  • All mall formats analyzed experienced year-over-year (YoY) visit growth in November, with indoor malls, open-air shopping centers, and outlet malls seeing foot traffic increases of 6.4%, 4.8%, and 3.8%, respectively. 
  • All malls – and indoor malls in particular – saw a YoY rise in traffic during the week preceding Black Friday. 
  • Visits over this year’s Black Friday weekend exceeded last year’s levels across all mall formats, with indoor malls and open-air shopping centers even outperforming their pre-pandemic baseline. 

Malls Bounce Back 

Following weaker foot traffic performances in September and October, mall visits swung positive in November: Indoor malls, open-air shopping centers, and outlet malls received year-over-year (YoY) visit boosts of 6.4%, 4.8%, and 3.8%, respectively. The strong YoY growth across all mall types underscores the continued attraction of brick-and-mortar retail – particularly during the holiday season.

YoY visits by mall types for June - November 2024

Malls Drive Early Holiday Visits

While much of the November boost is likely due to the malls’ strong Black Friday performance, foot traffic data indicates that early deals also drove visits before the big day: Comparing daily visits during the week before Black Friday (from Friday November 22nd to Wednesday November 27th) to visits during the equivalent days in 2023 (November 17th to 22nd 2023) reveals that malls received more pre-Black Friday mall visits this year than in 2023.

This willingness to shop ahead of Black Friday instead of waiting for the best deals on the day itself may highlight the effectiveness of retailers’ early promotions– or it could signal the readiness of some consumers to spend more freely this holiday season.

YoY visits for different mall types in the week leading up to black friday

Strong Black Friday Performance 

Still, despite the positive pre-Black Friday showing, the majority of the November visit boost can likely be attributed to malls’ impressive Black Friday Performance. All three formats saw YoY visit growth over Black Friday weekend, with open-air shopping centers seeing the largest visit increases – foot traffic for this sub-category was up 6.0% compared to Black Friday weekend 2023. In fact, this year’s Black Friday numbers were so strong that visits to indoor malls and open-air shopping centers even exceeded pre-pandemic Black Friday weekend. 

visits compared to a 2019 baseline for black friday weekend shw open air and indoor malls exceed pre-pandemic visits

These numbers reveal that, despite the rise in early Black Friday deals and online shopping, many consumers still want to experience the excitement of Black Friday bargain hunting in person. And this powerful kickoff to the 2024 holiday season indicates that the unique experiential offering of malls – combining shopping, dining, and entertainment all under one roof –  continue to play a central role in the wider retail landscape.

For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai

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