Half of Black Friday Weekend Spending Will Be Online

By Paul Ausick Updated Jan 12, 5:33PM EST · Published Nov 21, 2:38PM EST

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Half of Black Friday Weekend Spending Will Be Online — © Thinkstock

Just over half (51%) of an individual’s average $400 Thanksgiving weekend shopping budget will be spent online. That’s $205 compared with $185 (46%) in stores and the remaining 3% ($10) on catalog shopping. Three-quarters of Americans will be shopping on the four-day weekend that runs from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.

Over the holiday weekend, 87% of shoppers will be shopping online, compared with 84% who plan to visit stores, and 86% expect to spend as much or more as they spent last year. Most of the spending (83%) will be directed at gift purchases, while 42% will go for entertaining guests at home.

The data were reported Monday from consultancy Deloitte, and the firm’s vice chairman and head of the US retail practice, Rod Sides, said:

While digital and physical tactics should work in concert, it is critical that retailers’ digital influence fits specific purposes and shopping days this week. Before Thanksgiving, the experience should be informational and inspirational, to influence the consumer in the research phase. Black Friday requires nimble and feature-rich mobile formats while people browse reviews and compare information at the point of purchase. Cyber Monday is purely transactional, where features like prices, free shipping, and online return policies move into focus.

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As Sides notes, retailers are under a lot of pressure to get their in-store, online, and mobile programs all singing from the same hymn book. Shoppers will go where they think they can get the best deals with the least amount of hassle. Half think that Black Friday offers the best deals of the season and 56% plan to take advantage of early Black Friday offers made online.

Black Friday will attract about 79% of shoppers to stores while Cyber Monday is expected to draw 71% to online sales.

And while two-thirds of survey respondents say they would prefer that stores were closed on Thanksgiving Day, 22% of respondents plan to shop on the holiday.

Methodology
The survey was commissioned by Deloitte and conducted online by an independent research company between November 9 through November 14, 2016.

It polled a national sample of 1,223 adults (age 18+) who plan to shop during the holiday season and has a margin of error for entire sample of plus or minus three percentage points.

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About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.