Despite “Black Friday” themed deals that begin well before Thanksgiving, Black Friday has not lost its luster. Checkout, The NPD Group’s receipt mining service, reveals that Black Friday 2018 was the top shopping day of the year for both in-store and online U.S. consumer spending. This year, 17% of consumers plan to wait to start their holiday shopping on Black Friday – the most in recent history, according to insights from NPD’s 2019 Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey.
“Early deals get some attention, but many consumers will wait for the real thing to get their holiday started,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry advisor, The NPD Group. “Black Friday may not have the same bustle as it did ten years ago, but it has retained its holiday spirit.”
The week of Thanksgiving and Black Friday is still when the biggest jump in holiday shopping activity happens. Last year U.S. consumers made an average of 5.5 in-store and 3.6 online purchases during the week of Thanksgiving. But, e-commerce gets a bigger bump in activity, increasing by more than 30% between the holiday season’s lowest and highest points, while in-store purchase frequency only fluctuates 12%.
Online shopping and deals that span well beyond Thanksgiving weekend have calmed the commotion of Black Friday, presenting younger consumers with a more dignified shopping event than Gen X and Boomers, who fought the crowds for door-buster deals remember a very different kind of day. Gen Z and Millennial consumers are most likely of all generations to shop on Black Friday, and a third of them plan to spend more than they did last year. This means new opportunities for retailers vying for holiday dollars.
“Expect Black Friday to get an additional boost this year as consumers come to the realization of the shopping time-crunch ahead of them, and younger consumers get more engaged in holiday shopping,” added Cohen. “Retailers who can tap into these emerging consumer groups, and ease some of the post-Thanksgiving frenzy will be able to maximize late-season spending for a strong holiday finish.”
Checkout offers robust data for tracking and improving performance across all channels plus buyer analytics to help businesses keep current customers and win new ones. Over 100,000 consumers, the largest omnichannel panel focused on general merchandise and foodservice, provide us with receipt-based information on their in-store and e-commerce purchases. With comprehensive data from the same consumers over time, Checkout illuminates trends in behavior including migration to shopping online by category and consumer demographics. Buyer analytics deliver insight into most valuable customers, brand loyalty, brand leakage / lift, brand launches, and more.
The Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey is designed to understand consumers’ shopping and spending intentions for the upcoming holiday season. An online survey was fielded to members of The NPD Group’s online consumer panel in September.
