Week in Review: Holiday Season Stats and Predictions

Happy Black Friday! Many people and many marketers view this day as the official kickoff of the holiday shopping season. 

And this year is forecasted to be a big one – a record-breaker, even. 

The National Retail Federation (NRF) predicts that 182 million consumers will be shopping between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, marking a 15.7 million increase from 2022 – huge.

Today (Black Friday) is anticipated to be the most popular day, attracting 130.7 million shoppers. 

NRF suggests retailers prepare for a historic holiday shopping turnout. A survey of 8,424 U.S. adults indicates a trend of early shopping, with 59% having already started making purchases by early November. Gen Z are also driving this surge, as another study found that younger consumers are capitalising on Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals to cut down on the costs of Christmas shopping.

Major retailers like Amazon and Walmart continue to dominate the sales, contributing to 10.4% growth in nonstore sales. NRF projects a 3-4% increase in total holiday spending, reaching between $957.3 billion and $966.6 billion, with online shopping expected to grow 7-9% to between $273.7 billion and $278.8 billion.