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.
