So, to demonstrate just how big of a thing FNO has become, let’s take a look at Fashion Month’s unofficial kickoff by the numbers.

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And lo and behold, while pulling together information for this visual overview, we discovered something heartening: the vast majority of retailers, at least in New York City, are trying to draw shoppers in with food, music, product launches or gifts with purchase. Out of 1216 NYC events, only 90 are tagged as celebrity events, and “celebrity” is a very generous term in some cases.

The evening still seems to be more of a party than anything else, but at least the promotions for most merchants are turned towards making the products the stars of Fashion’s Night Out.

“F.N.O. was a good idea when it began, back in the depths of the recession when stores were virtually empty. But now itâ€s become a party, an institutionalized kickoff to Fashion Week, and though it apparently raises money for some causes, I have to believe that the costs of security, crowd control and entertainment, not to mention the traffic headaches, outweigh the actual benefits.” – Cathy Horyn, last Friday on her blog.

“On the other hand, with the economy picking up and shoppers getting comfortable with spending again, do retailers really need to keep spending money on an event that generates traffic, but not as much in sales? Without hard numbers, itâ€s difficult to argue for or against the event to continue, but anecdotally, something has to change if the event is to become the Black Friday of fall. For all of the people out and about, we didnâ€t catch much actual shopping going on.” – Us, last December following the announcement of the 2011 Fashion’s Night Out date.

We’d love to be proven wrong by this year’s event, but we won’t hold our breath for returned calls from retailers demonstrating a clear sales (not just foot traffic) boost. We will try, again, to get in touch with both large and small retailers to get at least an anecdotal picture of whether Fashion’s Night Out delivers a revenue increase significant enough to justify the celebrities, security and other hoopla.

Say what you will about Carine Roitfeld’s version, but the now former Vogue Paris editor kept her eye on the prize for the French version of Fashion’s Night Out. There were very few scheduled celebrities, if you wanted to attend you had to buy a copy of Vogue or Architectural Digest for an invitation, the activities focused on a handful of luxury retailers – the same ones usually found in the pages of Vogue Paris, in a geographically limited area (the Triangle d’Or). In spite of the things it didn’t have (a wide range of brand options, A-list appearances, citywide participation), the one thing it did have was cash registers ringing throughout the night in the vast majority of stores.

But hey, while we still think retailers would do better to trade the celeb appearance fees for shopping related gifts or limited time price breaks, at least someone over at FNO picked up on our 3rd suggestion of including an online component.

The jury’s still out on whether something is better than nothing in this case though.

Perhaps the third time's a charm?

In terms of foot traffic the event was an overwhelming, mammoth success. People turned out in droves and created lines that wrapped around (and around, and around…) the block for some stores.

The financial success though? Well, mum’s been the word for a while. The financial results from the first year were underwhelming for certain retailers, and this year no one would comment. It’s not just our emails and calls that went unreturned, there’s been no mention in the Wall Street Journal, WWD or any of the publications we’d expect to report back with the hard numbers.

On one hand, plenty of successful ventures take a while to find their financial footing. Big buzz can mean big profits if it’s sustained. Look at any number of popular tech startups: Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, YouTube – all are going through or went through a period where user adoption outpaced revenue.

On the other hand, with the economy picking up and shoppers getting comfortable with spending again, do retailers really need to keep spending money on an event that generates traffic, but not as much in sales? Without hard numbers, it’s difficult to argue for or against the event to continue, but anecdotally, something has to change if the event is to become the Black Friday of fall. For all of the people out and about, we didn’t catch much actual shopping going on.

Part of it, we suspect, is that the event has become too much of… an event, and not one that’s about shopping. Crazy as it may be for some, people are pitching tents, buying diapers and lining up outside of stores in the wee hours of the morning on Black Friday to catch unbelievable deals and spend money. People on Fashion’s Night Out typically lined up to meet their favorite celebrity or watch the spectacle unfold, rather than shop.

If next year’s event is to be as beneficial for business as it is for buzz and branding, we have a few suggestions:

• Ditch the celebrities: While the crowds may not be as heavy, they’ll be there for the clothes and shopping, rather than the photo op.
• Break out the financial incentives: Yes, the event was created with the goal of getting people to buy at full price, but take a page from big box retailers who know the power of a doorbuster for encouraging shopping rather than gawking. Plus, we’ll bet that whatever you would have spent on celebrity security and crowd control will be just as popular if you give it to shoppers in the form of discounts or special gifts.
• Include an online component: Vogue UK tested the first Fashion’s Night In this year, and while reports on financial success have been similarly quiet to the night out, so many people turn to websites for decisions on where to go and what to buy offline that it’s plain silly to waste the attention. Especially for shoppers not in New York or a major city, it could also be a great way to boost online sales and give those who just don’t want to fight the crowds a connection to the event (and possibly, a reason to come to the store in person at a later date).