Holiday Shopping Season Has Already Begun

Nevin Barich

Nevin Barich

LOS ANGELES , November 25, 2019 () – Years ago, I never even thought about holiday shopping until after Thanksgiving. It just wasn’t on my radar. I’d have my turkey, ham and mashed potatoes on the Thursday holiday, then turn my attention to Chanukah, Christmas and my list of gifts I needed to purchase.

But this is not years ago, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF). According to its recent survey conducted during the first week of November, 56% of consumers had already begun their holiday shopping, about the same as the past few years. That was up from 48% who had already started at the same point a decade ago. On average, consumers had completed 24% of their shopping, the highest level in the history of the survey and up from 16% in 2009. Additionally, 4% have already finished their shopping.

“This is further evidence that the holiday season has grown far beyond the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “Thanksgiving is still a hallmark of the season, and there’s billions of dollars in shopping still to come. But many consumers have already been shopping for weeks, and retailers are increasingly adapting to that.”

That said, the long Thanksgiving weekend remains an extremely active one for shoppers. An estimated 165.3 million people are likely to shop Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to the annual survey released by the NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

Throughout the course of the holiday weekend, 39.6 million consumers are considering shopping on Thanksgiving Day, 114.6 million on Black Friday, 66.6 million on Small Business Saturday and 33.3 million on Sunday. The shopping weekend will wrap up on Cyber Monday, when 68.7 million are expected to take advantage of online bargains.

All totaled, the NRF’s annual forecast estimates that holiday retail sales in November and December will be up between 3.8%-4.2% over 2018 for a total of between $727.9 billion and $730.7 billion. So the truth is obvious:

The holiday shopping season is bigger, longer and has already begun.

Nevin Barich is the Food and Beverage Analyst for Industry Intelligence, which can help YOU better address your own industry challenges. We invite you to come take a look at our service.Call us today at 310-553-0008 and we’ll schedule you for a 15-minute demo.

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