ICSC: 86% of consumers will shop over Thanksgiving weekend

Dive Brief:

As shoppers prepare for the busiest shopping weekend of the year, a new report from ICSC predicts that consumers will spend $491 on average between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, bringing in a total of over $108 billion for the weekend. Of the ICSC's 1,015 survey respondents, 36% said they plan to choose where to shop based on discounts, followed by product availability (31%) and product variety (22%).
Nearly half of shoppers (49%) will shop at brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving Day, and just over half (51%) plan only to shop online. But while almost three-fourths (73%) of consumers plan to shop either online or in-store on Black Friday, the majority (81%) of Cyber Monday shoppers plan to buy their holiday goods online.
Of the consumers heading to malls this holiday season, 59% will go there to shop, 47% will dine at a restaurant, 24% will go to a movie and 15% want to take their child to visit Santa Claus.

Dive Insight:

Though retailers like Best Buy, Target and Walmart have been introducing deals earlier this year — a practice that might stick around for the foreseeable future — the ICSC survey indicates that many consumers are keeping up with Black Friday and Cyber Monday traditions.

Per the survey findings, 86% of consumers plan to shop between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday. How they plan to shop differs. A report from Shopify noted that nearly all (94%) respondents said they will make their holiday purchases online for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and 65% will do so in stores.

Though a sizable share of consumers plans to shop during the Black Friday weekend, retailers are divided on whether to remain open on certain days, including Thanksgiving. While REI, Walmart, Target and Simon Property Group plan to close down on Thanksgiving, Big Lots decided to extend its Thanksgiving hours at its locations across the country.

"The holiday shopping season started early this year and we expect a busy Thanksgiving weekend with consumers looking for gifts and personal items," Tom McGee, ICSC president and CEO, said in a statement. "Black Friday promotions also began early this year and will be front and center throughout the holiday weekend as consumers look for deals and prioritize getting the best price on their purchases."