Hey big spenders and sellers, we’ve got a Thanksgiving shopping research special report for you.
Consumers are getting ready to open their purses and wallets for the holiday shopping season, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics.
43% of young adults ages 18-24 and 38% of those 25-34 said they will spend more while only 9% of those 65 and older are planning to spend more this year the NRF predicted.
Deloitte says 71% of consumers will shop during the Thanksgiving period and forecasts the average consumer will spend $420 during this busy shopping weekend alone.
Omnichannel and mobile rising
The NRF survey found 50% of consumers who own smartphones or tablets said they will use the devices to research their holiday purchases.
“Americans continue to engage in holiday traditions like spending time with family and friends, exchanging gifts and cooking a special meal,” Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist said. “But today those traditions include going online to research products and compare prices to make informed purchasing decisions.”
Deloitte says. 89% of those who plan to shop will do so in-store while 91% will shop online.
50% of spending ($210) will happen online, 45% of spending in-store ($190), and 5% will be spent on catalog or other shopping ($20) Deloitte says.
Black Friday vs other shopping days
Among in-store shoppers, Black Friday will attract the biggest crowds in-store (70%), followed by Saturday (50%), Cyber Monday (40%), Sunday (30%), and Thanksgiving Thursday (26%).
For online shoppers, it’s all about shopping on Cyber Monday (73%) followed by Black Friday (50%) Saturday (30%), Thanksgiving Thursday (29%), and Sunday (25%).
The biggest overall spending will be on Cyber Monday ($170) followed by Black Friday ($160), Thanksgiving Thursday ($138), Saturday ($101), and Sunday ($71).
On Black Friday in-store shoppers will spend an average of $126 compared with Thanksgiving Thursday ($114), Saturday ($87), Cyber Monday ($74), and is a ($56).
When it comes to shopping online, the biggest spending day is Cyber Monday ($148), then Black Friday ($113), Thanksgiving ($99), Saturday ($69), and Sunday ($57).
Digital shopper preferences
The insight into digital shoppers from Deloitte’s research is invaluable for online sellers:
51% will use another shopping website if faced with technical issues- 41% will buy something online, while in-store, if offered a better price
- 39% are influenced by deals on their mobile phone
- 38% of consumers will use a retailer’s Wi-Fi network while shopping in-store
- 27% will check out using a mobile phone in order to avoid lineups.
Thanksgiving shopping is social
Thanksgiving shopping days are very social, particularly among younger shoppers. And, we don’t mean just online. Overall, 61% of consumers will shop with family or friends during the Thanksgiving shopping period.
The younger, the more social shopping is with 76% of Gen-Z shopping with family or friends followed by millennials (65%), Gen-X (63%), and Baby Boomers (55%).
While 82% of shoppers say deals and promotions are the reason they shop on Black Friday, another 42% say shopping with friends on Black Friday is simply something they enjoy.
If their favorite store isn’t open on Thanksgiving Day, 48% of shoppers will wait until another day to shop there while 38% will shop at a competitor.
Where do online shoppers get their info?
As you’d expect, online shoppers get most of their sale and promotional information from digital sources, including retailer websites (50%), dedicated Thanksgiving deal websites (52%), blogs and social media (26%), email (26%) and mobile text messages (21%).
All is not lost when it comes to traditional media with 28% getting information from newspaper, TV or radio, followed by mailers or flyers (27%) or in-store (21%).
How will consumers pay for their purchases?
The NRF expects spending on gift cards to reach $29.9 billion, up 7.7% from last year’s $27.6 billion. Holiday shoppers plan to purchase an average of four gift cards worth approximately $49 each.
Credit cards are the most popular form of payment by 42% of shoppers closely followed by debit cards (39%), cash (17%), and 2% will use checks.
44% of consumers will also use new payment methods including PayPal (35%), Apple Pay (8%), Samsung Pay and Google Wallet (5% each), and Venmo (4%).
Giving Tuesday is growing
With a large number of consumers, Thanksgiving is also about charitable giving. Giving Tuesday is a global movement that encourages the help of others through the gift of your time, donations, goods or your voice. The organization estimates more than 2.5 million gifts have been given and more than $300 million donated in 150 countries.
Seven in 10 shoppers plan to engage in charitable activities, including donating money and items to a charity or cause according to the NRF. Younger generations are more likely to donate tangible goods, while older consumers are more likely to give cash.
Leading into the holiday, we at Payments NEXT hope you will enjoy your Thanksgiving Day by feasting and enjoying the company of family and friends. We all have so much to be thankful for.
We’ll be back on Monday with payments, e-commerce and retail perspectives as usual.
Visual data courtesy of Deloitte’s 2018 Pre-Thanksgiving Pulse Survey
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