Thanksgiving Weekend Attracts Shoppers: NRF

Laishley said she tries to avoid Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping because she feels bad for the employees who have to work.

And stores reported brisk business as “Black Friday” kicked off.

We’ll take a look at the money spent this holiday weekend, shopping trends and whether more people are ditching the in-store sales for online deals.

“It’s really nice outside”, he said. “It comes right to your door”.

Average spending per person over the weekend totaled $299.60, with an average of $229.56 specifically going towards gifts, or 76.6 percent of total purchases.

With so many people shopping online, there was no repeat of the unseemly scuffles witnessed in high street stores previous year as customers fought over big-ticket items.

“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, ” says Matthew Shay, NRF president and CEO.

Americans who shopped online this past Thanksgiving holiday week pointed to several reasons for doing so, according to a poll from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA).

The NRF said that its survey of 4,281 consumers showed that shoppers on average spent or planned to spend about $300 over the weekend, which runs from Thursday, Nov. 26 through Sunday, Nov. 29. The trade group said it changed the methodology this year of its annual, so figures could not be compared fairly with last year’s results.

Meanwhile, there is “a broad and deep expectation” among shoppers that sales and promotions will continue far beyond Black Friday, and less of an imperative to spend over the weekend, Shay said.

Business was brisk but not overwhelming at a Macy’s in Kansas City, Missouri at 10 a.m. on Friday as a cold, steady drizzle fell.

“What we’re seeing is some softness in the two days, which could be accounted for by early promotions”, ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin said. “It’s been steady but no overwhelming”. It’s enough to have IHS director of consumer economics Chris Christopher predicting that holiday season e-commerce sales will jump 11.7 percent this year to about $95 billion, up from last year’s 10.9 percent gain.

The shift online has been a mixed blessing for the retail industry. The other is that a bigger push to sell on Thanksgiving could be leading to slightly softer sales the day after.

Brick-and-mortar retailers saw fewer customer visits on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, compared with a year ago, according to Kevin Kearns, ShopperTrak’s chief revenue officer.

“They don’t browse”, Dalto said. Saving time was cited by 79 percent, and finding better or similar deals online compared with those in stores was listed by 78 percent. Target plans to offer free shipping on online orders this holiday season for the second year in a row.