“We knew it (holiday season) was going to be off to a slow start”, Shelley Kohan, vice president of retail consulting at RetailNext, said.
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Shoppers carry their purchases as they walk though the steam coming from the underground along Fifth Avenue on Black Friday in New York, Friday, Nov. 25, 2016.
“We had projected Cyber Monday to be a US$3.36 billion day, and to win the crown of largest shopping day ever”, Gaffney said. It’s no coincidence that both chains have designed their smartphone apps for quick and easy online ordering.
Thanksgiving and Black Friday online sales rose 18% to $5.27 billion, according to a separate survey by Adobe Digital Insights, higher than the $5.05 billion expected.
The NRF had earlier projected that the retail industry would see a 3.6 percent increase in sales this holiday season over previous year.
“Pretty much the best deals are before Black Friday and Brown Thursday, truly”, said Alexander.
Retailers have also been spreading deals out more throughout the week.
E-commerce retailer Jet.com, recently bought by Wal-Mart for over $3 billion, attributed the rise in online sales over the past five days to a return to buying after the distraction of the November 8 presidential election. Spending via mobile devices on Friday increased 33 percent to an all-time high of $1.2 billion.
Target Corp trimmed product offers by 10 percent on Cyber Monday.
Moreover, the deepest discounts came from Amazon, averaged at 42%. When Target slashed prices last holiday season, its profit margin slipped to 27.9 per cent from 28.5 per cent.
Black Friday promotions have little place in the UK. Top-selling items include Instant Pot cookers, Hasbro Inc’s Pie Face game and Amazon’s Alexa devices.
The report suggested that weekend’s shopping indicates faster economic growth during the fourth quarter. More Americans went shopping this year, either online or in stores. EBay, for instance, urged Thanksgiving travelers to buy things on their phones while in transit, dubbing the event “Mobile Wednesday”. Nearly a quarter of consumers surveyed by Prosper Insights hadn’t purchased anything on their holiday lists yet, a higher percentage than past year. “It moved aggressively into Thanksgiving, and now it’s gone into Wednesday”.
Some customers at retail outlets have noticed that morning sales have not been as busy as they were just a couple years ago, as shoppers increasingly become aware that they can get the same deals in-store and online.
A taxi trunk is full of shopping bags on Black Friday..
“They said “free gun” and I came running”, said Nathan Brown, a resident of Wilmington.
“I looked at some online deals on J.C. Penney which were good”. That, says Adobe, represents a 17.7 percent year-over-year increase.
That’s a sign that holiday purchases are spreading out over a longer time frame. The NRF stuck to its forecast for retail sales to rise 3.6 percent this holiday season, on the back of strong jobs and wage growth.
The figure to beat is $2.3 billion dollars. expect a result somewhere in the vicinity of $2.7billion.
Kohl’s, too, has also been heavily investing in sprucing up its shopping app and pulling forward some online deals.
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“Let’s see what he does”, said Daniels, who now isn’t working.
