Walmart saw a big dip in customers shopping at its stores on Black Friday this year, study finds. Instead, they may have been flocking to the retailer’s website.

December 6, 2022

Shoppers just aren’t flocking to stores like they used to for Black Friday. And the world’s largest retailer experienced that firsthand this year.

Walmart saw a 5.3% dip in physical store traffic this Black Friday compared to last, according to estimates from Placer.ai, a location data company. And big-box stores across the board saw fewer people coming in: Placer.ai estimates that Target and Lowe’s saw Black Friday foot traffic decline 2% and 18.6%, respectively, compared with last year.

But that doesn’t mean fewer people are shopping at Walmart and its rivals. Global online searches for the term “Black Friday deals” were up 246.6% this year, according to a study from data platform Semrush – suggesting that more customers may be interested in seeking deals online.