Holiday Shopping Season Better Than Expected

By Karen Axelton

With the holiday shopping season well underway, there’s plenty of positive news about Black Friday, Cyber Monday and this year’s new entry into the shopping game, Small Business Saturday (an event developed by American Express OPEN and Facebook).

Black Friday’s number of shoppers and spending increased. According to data from National Retail Federation gathered by BIGresearch, an estimated 212 million Americans hit stores and websites on the weekend after Thanksgiving—an increase from 195 million last year. On average, each shopper spent $365.34, a significant rise from last year’s $343.31. Overall, spending on that weekend hit an estimated $45 billion.

Cyber Monday—the Monday after Thanksgiving, which traditionally is a big sales day when people shop online from their offices—also saw sales rise. Coremetrics reports that online sales grew 19.4 percent this Cyber Monday compared to 2009. The size of the average purchase grew by 8.3 percent, from $180.03 to $194.89.

What’s more, more people were shopping throughout the day than last year. Another trend to watch: 3.9 percent of people shopping retail sites on Cyber Monday were using a mobile device…so if your site isn’t optimized for m-commerce, now’s the time to get ready.

The first ever “Small Business Saturday,” a day when consumers were urged to buy at small independent retailers, got off to a good start. Some 1.2 million people spread the word by “liking” Small Business Saturday on Facebook; some 30,000 tweets were sent using the hashtags #smallbusinesssaturday and #smallbizsaturday; and 41 elected officials nationwide declared the day Small Business Saturday. The event was so successful that an incentive giving a $25 credit to American Express Cardmembers who registered their cards and spent at least $25 using them at a small business on November 27 has been extended through December 31^st. (Visit the Small Business Saturday Facebook page to learn more.)

American Express data as of December 2 showed independent retailers that accept American Express Cards saw sales on the cards rise an estimated 27 percent this year compared to the Saturday after Thanksgiving last year.

Other hot trends…

Early bird catches worm: Many retailers opened their doors earlier this Black Friday. By 4 a.m., 24 percent of Black Friday shoppers were already at stores. That likely means the trends of opening at midnight on Thanksgiving evening, or 3 a.m., will gather even more steam next year.

Luxury lift: Luxury spending on Black Friday weekend rose by 24 percent, reports the

National Retail Federation. More people bought jewelry and electronic devices than last year, a good indication that Americans are loosening the purse strings instead of just buying practical gifts.

Talking turkey: According to the National Retail Federation, the number of people who shop both online and offline on Thanksgiving has doubled in the past five years, from 10.3 million in 2005 to 22.3 million this year. Of course, five years ago, few brick-and-mortar stores were open on Thanksgiving. For a small business trying to compete, this may be something to consider next year.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 9th, 2010 at 10:30 am and is filed under Marketing, sales process. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.


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