As the holiday season descends, shoppers around the globe are prepping their gift checklists and mapping out where they can shop the best bargains.
According to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey conducted by Prosper Insights, 137.4 million, yes, million, Americans are planning to shop or considering shopping during Thanksgiving weekend. That is nearly six in 10 Americans.
What’s even more eye-opening is that those 137.4 million American consumers plan to spend an average of $935.58 during the holiday shopping season this year, with an average of $139.61 spent on themselves, up 4 percent from 2015 and marking the second-highest level of personal spending.
But with the crazy Thanksgiving and Black Friday shopping mayhem, are Americans willing to go out and possibly be trampled in actual brick-and-mortar stores, or will they turn their attention toward online shopping and Cyber Monday spending?
According to Nielsen’s 2016 holiday trend report, e-commerce retailers stand to benefit from shoppers’ continued affinity for online shopping because consumers across all generations are spending more online, and millennials are leading the way, with 25 percent of millennials planning to increase their online expenditures this holiday season. Overall, there is expected to be a 2 percentage point increase in online holiday shopping, up from 17 percent in 2015 to 19 percent in 2016. Jordan Rost, vice president of consumer insights at Nielsen, notes:
“With a growing appetite for all things digital, online platforms will have a more significant role in helping consumers both research and purchase gifts during this holiday season. Retailers take note, virtual environments present opportunities and unlimited growth potential for merchants — especially with the millennial, digital consumer.”
One thing that could put a damper on holiday spending is the presidential election. According to an analysis released Nov. 17 by Adobe Marketing Cloud, of 18.1 billion visits to retail websites, online sales rose 1.3 percent between Nov. 1 and Nov. 14, well under the 7.8 percent that had been forecast. Most of the decline happened after Republican Donald Trump’s upset victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton. By Adobe’s reckoning, businesses lost out on more than $800 million in sales. Tamara Gaffney, principal analyst and director at Adobe Digital Insights, notes:
“Instead of the expected 11 percent year-over-year increase, we expect growth to fall to single digits this year. Sales on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday will be an important indicator of how much sales expectations need to be adjusted this shopping season.”
Here’s hoping turkey, dreidels and jingle bells get consumers in the holiday spirit, so sales are boosted and the economy is supported. I know I’m looking forward to shopping the deals from the comfort of my own home.
For more information on the rise in e-commerce and how it is affecting the industrial industry, see “The new retail” in the December issue of Institutional Real Estate Americas.
The views, statements and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Institutional Real Estate, Inc.
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Denise DeChaine is special projects editor of Institutional Real Estate, Inc.
