Holiday Shopping Season Off To Record Start
On the heels of an increase in Black Friday weekend shopping, the National Retail Federation said Cyber Monday sales would break records.
The organization said online traffic for retailers was up on Thanksgiving, with more than 35 million people logging on to take advantage of sales, compared to 29 million last year. As more retailers chose to open their doors on Thanksgiving – and earlier than in the past – 28 percent of the weekend's shoppers were at stores by midnight Friday, up from 24.4 percent last year.
The number of Black Friday shoppers also hit a record, the NRF survey said, with more than 89 million people braving the crowds, compared to 86 million last year.
The number of shoppers over the whole weekend grew to 247 million, from 226 million last year, with the average shopper spending $423, up from $398 last year. Total spending reached an estimated $59.1 billion.
According to a Shop.org survey, 129.2 million Americans planned to shop online on Cyber Monday, up from 122.8 million last year and 106.9 million in 2010.
About 85 percent of retailers planned to have special online promotions for the day, the survey said.
"Retailers have honed and improved their websites, mobile sites and social media outreach to be better than ever and consumers know that come Cyber Monday, many retailers will have a slew of new promotions to help them make a real dent in their holiday shopping lists, without breaking the bank or even having to head to the store," said Shop.org Executive Director Vicki Cantrell.
The survey also found that the number of people planning to use smartphones or other mobile devices for shopping Monday increased 14.4 percent this year to 20.4 million, compared to 17.8 million in 2011. That number has skyrocketed from just 3.6 million in 2009. Most (88 percent) planned to shop from home Monday, but Shop.org said nearly 72 million Americans will shop from work at some point during the holiday season.
Read more
Retailers Upbeat Entering Holiday Shopping Season
TJX Raises Outlook After Robust 3rd Quarter
WBJ Web Partners
Most Recent
Most Recent
0 Comments