The way American consumers shopped this Black Friday was drastically different to previous years. With the US economy booming back to life people are better off this year and are not so desperate to go and fight in shops for super-bargains of Black Friday.
In addition, online retailers have gained more market share and offered holiday promotions weeks before Black Friday even began.
Over half (55.1 percent) of holiday shoppers were in stores and online over Thanksgiving weekend, a drop from 58.7 percent in 2013, according to the National Retail Federation.
From Thanksgiving Day through Sunday, November 30, overall shopper traffic fell by 5.2 percent from 2013, with 133.7 million unique holiday shoppers versus 141.1 million respectively.
NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay, said:
“A strengthening economy that changes consumers’ reliance on deep discounts, a highly competitive environment, early promotions and the ability to shop 24/7 online all contributed to the shift witnessed this weekend.”
Mr. Shay added:
“We are excited to be witnessing an evolutionary change in holiday shopping by both consumers and retailers, and expect this trend to continue in the years ahead.”
Total shopping dropped to 233.3 million from 248.6 million the year before.
The average person who shopped in the holiday weekend spent almost $30 less than the year before, with the survey revealing that on average shoppers spent $380.95 in 2014, 6.4 percent lower than $407.02 in 2013.
Despite the number of overall shoppers dropping this year, Black Friday is still the biggest shopping day in the US, 86.9 million shoppers were in stores and online on Black Friday, and 43.1 million said they shopped on Thanksgiving Day. Just over half (51.8 percent) shopped on Saturday and 25.5 percent shopped on Sunday.
Three quarters of those who said they shopped on Saturday said that they shopped at local, small businesses promoting Small Business Saturday.
Online shopping represented 42% of holiday shoppers budget, with the average American spending $159.55 online, a 10.2 percent drop from $177.67 last year.
