What day is the busiest for NM retailers (Albuquerque Business First) »

New Mexico retailers have their busiest weeks ahead of them as the holiday shopping season heats up.

November and December are the busiest months for retail in New Mexico, according to the State of Local Retail Report from Womply.com, and Black Friday is the eighth busiest day of the year.

The San Francisco-based service analyzed transactions at 54,000 independent retailers from 2017 to uncover the national and local trends.

When it comes to daily revenue, independent retailers in New Mexico averaged $838 per day during the year, making the state No. 46 in the nation for daily revenue generation placed between Mississippi (No. 45) and Montana (No. 47) in the national ranking.

The busiest day of the year for retailers in New Mexico fell on the last Friday before Christmas, which boosted revenue 108 percent over the average. The two weeks before Christmas were the two busiest weeks of the year, the third busiest was the week after Thanksgiving.

On the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday deals drew shoppers out to push independent retail sales 69 percent above the average day in New Mexico bringing in $1,418 in daily revenue.

For local business owner Lindsay Adler, who operates the store Retail Therapy Albuquerque with her mother Debra Adler, the season makes business for the whole year.

“It provides sales for the rest of the year,” Adler said. “It also introduces us to a lot of new customers. People are out and about, and wanting to explore and shop and find new things.”

Adler also helps spread the holiday cheer by hosting pop-up booths that feature local artists and vendors.

“We gotta support each other in this state. I think that sometimes there is not enough of that. If you shop local, you’re supporting small business but you are also supporting local artists,” she said.

Despite the extra business, at No. 46, New Mexico ranks near the bottom of the nation when it comes to average daily revenue during the shopping season. According to the report, New Mexico retailers saw $969 in sales per retailer per day last year,  compared to the national average of $1,775.

One of the hardest struggles for local retailers in the holiday season is competing with big box stores.

“A lot of people shop online, and when you shop online your tax dollars don’t go back to the city or the state,” Adler said. “Even if we do local sales, it is hard to compete with big box stores.”

Small Business Saturday, which falls on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, is the sixtieth most busy day of the year for independent retailers in New Mexico with just over $1,000 in daily revenue.

Consumer spending this holiday season is expected to be higher than last year, according to a press release from the National Retail Federation.

According to the Holiday Spending Forecast, holiday shopping in November and December is projected to exceed 2017 numbers by about 4 percent for a total of about $720 billion. In New Mexico, those two months account for 19.3 percent of the annual revenue, according to Womply.