Black Friday is expected to draw impressive crowds both physically and virtually this year, but shoppers around the country appear less interested in the early holiday deals compared to years prior.
According to a recent report from YouGov, roughly half of the more than 1,000 surveyed respondents have no plans to participate in Black Friday shopping this year, most citing overcrowded stores, unavailable merchandise and the inability to make purchases due to the surplus of shoppers as reasons to skip the sales altogether.
Of those saying they will return to stores this Black Friday, 28% asserted they will spend fewer dollars than they spent in previous years, compared to just 12% saying they’ll spend more. Just over half of respondents said they plan to spend around the same amount.
About 35% of new and returning shoppers say they will cap their spending at $50 this year, while other respondents are open to spending more. 22% of returning shoppers stated they’ll set aside $50-100 for Black Friday, and another 28% are willing to spend even more than that.
However, smaller shares of non-returning shoppers responded to the likelihood of spending increasingly large amounts of money on Black Friday deals, hinting that cost may also be a factor contributing to many shoppers’ lack of participation this year.
Younger Americans also seem more inclined to shop Friday’s deals than older Americans. Nearly half of respondents from the baby boomer generation stated that they’re skipping the sales this year, while almost half of millennial-aged respondents cited plans to shop on the day after Thanksgiving, either in person or online.
Regardless, total dollars spent chasing Black Friday sales this year are still predicted to surpass those from last year.
According to Adobe Analytics, shoppers spent a combined $9.12 billion in pursuit of online Black Friday-related sales alone in 2022, an approximation up 2.3% from the year before. This total doesn’t account for dollars spent on Thanksgiving Day.
A separate report from Adobe Analytics estimates that online sales will reach $9.6 billion this year, representing an increase of nearly 6% over the past 12 months.
This, when combined with spending predictions for Cyber Monday and Thanksgiving Day, constitutes an estimated consumer spending total of $37.2 billion this year, a value 5.4% higher than that from Cyber Week 2022.
Adobe Analytics predicts Americans will spend over $220 billion while shopping online throughout the holiday season, specifically during the stretch of time spanning from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31.
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