I would guess they got less for more money.

7% is approximately how much average inflation would've been for a lot of items.

So you are very likely going to be spot on about getting less for more money.

But this also indicates that, on average, people haven't cut back, despite the inflation.

I'd expect this to be higher since it grows with both inflation & population

Looks like yoy inflation is about 3.5%, and purchasing age population increase is between 0.5% and 1.5%. What other metrics should one be looking at to push that over 7%?

If you change the methodology for calculating the CPI[1], in particular changing the mix to remove purchases that wouldn’t be captured by black-friday sales (energy, shelter, to some extent?: food) and re-weight categories like clothing you will get very different (possibly higher) inflation numbers [2]

[1]https://www.investopedia.com/articles/07/consumerpriceindex....

[2]https://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.htm

So if you change the equation, the answer will be different? Interesting...

It is possible that economy is not looking as rosy as last year and more discounts were given by sellers this year leading to more sales?

Also, I am not sure if a single analytics company report is worth it to generate discussion on this as the difference seems like error margin.

Inflation basket isn’t a good measure for this. You need a custom basket that is mostly consumer goods and you need to pull out the hedonic adjustment because a tv is still a tv even if it’s slightly more modern

Have there been any studies of how Black Friday / cyber Monday’s sales predict upcoming recessions?

Nobody is shopping bullshit. Nobody has money. The economy is crashing.

The article seems to disagree with your opinion.

Went to my local Target and it was half empty compared to last year

Like an in person IRL store? Those still exist? Okay I’m being facetious but I did spend more than ever and didn’t set foot in a store and that seems to be the trend these days.

Brick and mortar sales do have meaning but it’s harder to compare their crowds to prior times

And sure, my account is one data point of anecdotal evidence.That’s fine in this thread’s context, I.e one starting off with an anecdotal observation.

You spent more than ever before because you have no sense of money management.

Sorry you are failing hard. Anyone with any sense of common sense would know things are dropping so bad. You must live in a bubble of crazy .

I mean a 85" tv which was $2400 is going for $1100 and if you are buying then I have a bridge to sell you.

That’s a lot to assume with zero actual knowledge of my budgeting. So No surprise it happens to be totally off the mark and inaccurate.

I usually save about 40-50% of my take home pay each month and thats after maxing 401k contributions. And no, this is not on FANG pay.

Yep, Terrible money management just as accused. /s. Okay Next assumption please

It means Target is not popular ? I went to other stores and they are lot of people.

More like stores have no inventory why bother going

They are clearing their crap and can't afford new shit. They are taking advantage of dumb buyers