Change in Thanksgiving weekend spending stumps retailers

Mobiles and smartphones sold like hot cakes, according to online shopping data released by Adobe.

Data from analytics firm RetailNext seemed to show flat customer traffic Thursday on U.S. Thanksgiving and on Black Friday in bricks and mortar stores.

Despite the tepid start to the holiday shopping season this past weekend, analysts believe there’s still a good chance for holiday sales to be up overall – although only modestly – by the time Christmas Day arrives.

And shoppers have more information about deals than ever. That figure far exceeded the 136 million people who said they meant to shop over the weekend when NRF conducted a similar survey in mid-November. IBM Watson Trend noted that online shopping on Thanksgiving Day shot up 26%, and that mobile sales accounted for 40% of all online sales, an increase of 24% from previous year. “It is clear that the age-old holiday tradition of heading out to stores with family and friends is now equally matched in the new tradition of looking online for holiday savings opportunities”.

Both women said Black Friday hype seems to have diminished.

However, this year’s numbers indicate that even Cyber Monday may also be turning obsolete as an exclusive day for big holiday deals – because shoppers know Internet deals and discounts often stick around beyond the initial five-day holiday period between Thanksgiving day and Cyber Monday. The term Cyber Monday was coined a decade ago, when retailers noticed a spike in online holiday shopping on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

The change in methodology came after the survey fell under scrutiny in recent years, including last year when it showed average spending had dropped 6.4 percent and total spending over the weekend slid 11 percent to $50.9 billion, sparking worries about spending that proved largely unfounded as retail sales over the season rose 4.1 percent. That’s below last year’s 4.1 percent growth.

On Tuesday, Dec. 1, ShopperTrak will release a full weekend recap, which will include additional details regarding sales and shopper visits. When asked for their predictions for December, 37 per cent of consumers said they think the deals/promotions in December will be better than what was found over the past weekend while 51 per cent anticipate similar deals/promotions.

Almost 74.2 million people ventured out to shop on Black Friday and 34.6 million shopped on Thanksgiving Day, while 46.8 million made purchases on Saturday. But given the faster growth rates in e-commerce sales, the retail industry appears to be reaching a turning point.

Consumers cited avoiding crowds, saving time, and finding better bargains online as reasons for avoiding stores, says theConsumer Technology Association (CTA), and retailers are adapting to these shifting habits, putting more of their door-buster deals online and extending their availability.