Data has shown that fewer consumers spent both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday shopping this year.
This year, more consumers chose to take advantage of only one of the big holiday retail days. Only 39% of consumers opted to venture out on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, which is down from 46% in 2014.
- Black Friday was clearly the dominant choice with 43% of shoppers hitting stores, with a slight boost from last year.
- Consumers choosing to only shop on Thanksgiving grew to 18%, from 14% last year – the largest increase of the three segments, despite many stores deciding not to open their doors on the holiday.
The majority of shoppers who did venture out on Thanksgiving or Black Friday went to just one store and they were done – fewer shoppers made their outing a multi-store event.
- Less than 15% of shoppers made Black Friday a marathon shopping day, hitting four or more stores – a decline from 20% last year.
Thanksgiving Day at 6 p.m., and Black Friday at 12 p.m. were, once again, the peak spending hours this year. However, Thanksgiving Day did see a sharper decline following the 6 p.m. peak than last year.
- Best Buy won the early shopper, hitting their peak at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day
- Walmart won the peak Thanksgiving Day shopper, hitting their peak in the key spending hour of 6p.m.
- Macy’s won the peak Black Friday shopper, hitting their peak the key spending hour of 12 p.m.
What was purchased, and when?
- Technology captured the largest share of spend on Thanksgiving Day, but the average spend declined compared to 2014
- Apparel captured the largest share of spend on Black Friday, remaining consistent with last year, but Thanksgiving Day spend declined. Apparel was the most purchased category on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
- Video games, toys and appliances all increased their share of spend on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, compared to 2014.