Commentary

50.9 Billion Shopping Dollars To Change Hands This Week

According to the second wave of results from the Ebate Holiday 2016 Survey, conducted online by Propeller Insights, for nearly half (48%) of Americans, Black Friday is already a paid day off. But cash back shopping site Ebates thinks that Black Friday should be a national holiday. 57% of Black Friday shoppers find the experience to be fun; half shop because the deals are too good to pass up and another 31% shop because it is a tradition.

30% of the year’s retail sales happen between Black Friday and Christmas:

  • 1 in 3 American adults goes shopping on Black Friday
  • 72.8% of the weekend’s in-store shoppers shop on Black Friday
  • 73.1% of the weekend’s online shoppers shop on Black Friday
  • On average, each shopper spends nearly $300
  • 233 million shoppers spent $50.9 billion on a single Black Friday

However, almost all American shoppers (93%) admit that there is one or more aspect of holiday shopping that they feel skeptical about, and staying on budget is top concern for shoppers this holiday season.

Kevin H. Johnson, CEO of Ebates, says “Staying on budget is a concern for many families during the holidays, and finding the best deals can be time-consuming.”

Women and men are both most skeptical about staying on budget (55% of women and 46% of men), says the report. And that the items they want will be in stock (52% of women and 51% of men), but they also worry that they won’t be able to find what they need (42% of men and 44% of women) and that the deals are too good to be true (34% of men and 32% of women).

Americans are split on whether or not to keep emergency gifts on hand in the event that someone gives them a gift and they don’t have one in return, says the report. 52% said they don’t keep emergency gifts on hand, and 48% said they do. 

Gifting Held Back For Emergencies

Emergency gifts men keep on hand

% of Men

Emergency gifts women keep on hand

% of Women

Wine or other alcohol

41%

Candles

54%

Cash

41%

Gift cards/e-gift cards

51%

Lotions or body spray

35%

Picture frames/home decor

30%

Cookies/baked goods

34%

Wine or other alcohol

29%

Source: Ebates, November 2016

When it comes to who men are most skeptical about receiving a gift from, it seems that men don’t entirely trust their spouses’ taste. 25% revealed they are most worried about a gift from their significant other, says the report. Women are more trusting of their spouses, but not of their in-laws: 20% of women are skeptical about receiving gifts from their in-laws.

 Finally, says the report, reporting on Christmas gifting, parents rank a gaming console higher than teens on their holiday wish lists; and teens forego the trendy tech gifts, like Snapchat Spectacles, and opt for sweets as a top choice of “traditional” holiday gifts. When it comes to which traditional gifts Americans would most like to receive, both parents and teens chose clothing and shoes as the top items on their “traditional” wish lists (62% for adults and 60% for teens), according to the report

For additional information from Ebates, please visit here.

 ADDENDUM: Courtesy of EBates…

How We Got Here:

In 1863, Thanksgiving was named a national holiday by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. As of 1932, retailers traditionally waited until the day after Thanksgiving for Christmas advertisements. But in the 1950s, the police in Philadelphia began using the term “Black Friday” to describe the many suburban shoppers who would travel into the city after Thanksgiving. Worried that Black Friday had negative connotations and that people would stop coming into the city to shop, there was an effort to rebrand the term in 1961.

 By the 1980s, the event was becoming more widespread, but retailers in Cincinnati and Los Angeles were still unaware of the term in 1985. In the year 2000, a phenomenon called “Christmas creep” began, and stores started to ignore the unwritten rule to wait until after Thanksgiving to promote holiday shopping.

 Notably, Lowe’s began setting up Christmas trees by Oct. 1. In 2008, the first Black Friday death occurred when a stampede of Black Friday shoppers trampled a worker at a Long Island Wal-Mart. Just as holiday sales were being advertised earlier to capture more shoppers, the stores were opening their doors earlier and earlier. In the late 2000s, they opened on Friday at 4 or 5 a.m. In 2011, stores were opening at midnight. It jumped to 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day in 2012 and 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day in 2014.

 

 

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