Dive Brief:
-
Holiday shoppers will spend an average of $57 more on Black Friday than on Cyber Monday this year, but a great majority (68%) of Black Friday shoppers will be doing most of their shopping online, according to a survey of more than 1,500 U.S. shoppers from deals site BlackFriday.com emailed to Retail Dive. Rival deals site BestBlackFriday.com found slightly fewer (55.9%) prefer online holiday shopping (up from 51.4% last year), while 44.1% prefer stores (48.7% last year) and most are planning a mix, according to a report emailed to Retail Dive.
-
Nearly a third of holiday shoppers (31%) say they'll do most of their shopping on Black Friday, while 22% say the same of Cyber Monday. Those heading to stores aren't likely to rush, with the biggest crowds likely in the middle of the day: 17% are going later in the day compared to 15% in the morning, according to BlackFriday's report.
-
The expected average spending for Black Friday ($472) beats Cyber Monday ($415) this year, and shoppers expect the best deals on those shopping days to be on Amazon. Nearly a quarter (24%) always price compare on Amazon on those days, according to BlackFriday's report.
Dive Insight:
This year will have one of the earliest Black Fridays ever, but many shoppers are already finished or plan to finish with their lists well before Thanksgiving.
Some 5.4% or 13.6 million people are already done with their holiday shopping (down from 8.3% last year), 18.2% (46.3 million people) will be done before Nov. 1 (up from almost 17% last year), and 84.3% will be done before Christmas Week (up from 80.3% last year), according to BestBlackFriday.
Both deal sites find gender differences in holiday shopping patterns. Men check off their lists earlier than women, according to BestBlackFriday, and, according to BlackFriday, are more likely to spend more. More men (14%) than women (4%) are likely to drop $1,200 or more on Black Friday, while 11% of men and 5% of women are likely to spend that much or more on Cyber Monday, according to BlackFriday.com.
Amazon edges out most other retailers when it comes to consumer expectations for the best deals, according to BlackFriday.com. Nearly a third (29%) of shoppers told the site that Amazon will have the best Black Friday deals, followed by Walmart (25%), Target (15%), Best Buy (14%), Kohl's (11%) and J.C. Penney (6%). Cyber Monday follows the same pattern, with Amazon leading (32%), followed by Walmart (24%), Target (15%), Best Buy (13%), Kohl's (10%) and J.C. Penney (6%).
