US Shoppers Spent A Record $1B Via Mobile On Black Friday

“It’s clear that consumers have become more comfortable spending money online”, said Tamara Gaffney, a principal analyst at ADI, in a recent story on cmo.com.

A survey of 4,330 consumers about Thanksgiving weekend shopping plans indicated that 44% went online while 40% shopped in-store. This year, 36% of shoppers reported that all of their purchases were sale items; last year, 11% of consumers said so.

With consumer spending making up two-thirds of the USA economy, the results are a good sign as some feared post-election blues might keep some shoppers inside.

And regardless of convenience or shopping tradition, bargain hunting is still at the forefront of most shoppers’ minds during the holiday season.

While the total number of Black Friday weekend shoppers grew 2 percent to 154 million, their refusal to spend as much could renew concerns about the sluggish retail economy. Out-of-stock messages were at 10.5 percent, 1.5 percent less than levels seen in 2015 and 1.9 percent higher than on Thanksgiving Day (8.6 percent).

Online sales have also been stretching out more and more.

Bloomberg sees the boom in online sales as the “slow death” of Black Friday which will rob the event of its luster. And Walmart kicked off its Cyber Monday deals at 12:01 a.m. EST Friday for the first time as it aimed to grab customers ahead of its competitors.

But Black Friday is gradually losing its Super Bowl status in retail.

The survey also found that only nine percent of consumers have finished their holiday shopping, down from 11 percent past year.

The revised outlook dismissed fears that a strong jump in web sales during the Thanksgiving weekend would hurt Cyber Monday.

But other factors could have contributed to the decline in per-person spending: Retailers have been spreading their Black Friday deals out over a longer stretch, so it’s possible that many people pounced on offers several days before Thanksgiving even arrived.

Shoppers spent an average of $289.19, down from $299.60 previous year, the survey said. Looking toward Cyber Monday, NRF anticipates more than 122 million people will take part in the laptop-driven shopping holiday-though 23 percent of those shopping this year will be using a mobile device.

The National Retail Federation, the industry group representing retailers, said last month that it expects sales in all of November and December – excluding autos, gas and restaurant sales – to hit $655.8 billion this year, including non-store sales of $105 billion.

Sanchez went on to say that as time goes on many things will continue to change but it’s up to shoppers to determine which direction things may go.