Thanksgiving and Black Friday by the numbers
聽is so close we can practically taste it! And there's nothing more exciting than having done our Black Friday research in advance: knowing which聽聽to nab, which聽, and actually get to spend some time gearing up to go shopping during聽. But before we charge out the door on Thanksgiving, we want to pause for a minute and think about what this all adds up to. We've crunched some big numbers in the lead up to this major shopping event, and think this is a great space to talk about Black Friday by the numbers.
Projected Black Friday Overall Spending: $602.1 Billion
To put this figure in perspective: $602 billion is more than $10 billion spent聽per day聽for the entirety of the shopping season throughout November and December, and it exceeds the gross domestic product of Poland for one year. It also tops the GDP of the Czech Republic, Ukraine, and Slovenia聽combined. The聽, also estimates this total to be 3.9% more than consumers' total holiday spending in 2012. Looks like Santa will need a much bigger sleigh this year!聽
Average Amount Spent on Gifts: $646
Accenture estimates that this holiday season,聽聽than they did last year. This may be due in part to folk's heightened interest in Black Friday itself 鈥� it's reaching its highest level in five years.
Shoppers Who Won't Wait Until Black Friday to Shop: 38%
In the 2013 version of the sequel to聽A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, the whole Peanuts gang goes shopping! In fact, 4 in 10 shoppers will start their holiday shopping on Thanksgiving Day, rather than on Black Friday itself. What's more, 41% of Thanksgiving Day shoppers will be out filling their carts between 6 pm and 5 am on Black Friday.
Projected Black Friday Weekend Online Sales: $82 Billion
As online retailers continue to grow their market share the rest of the year, they'll also have a banner season in the weeks ahead. Shop.org projects that online聽, to as much as $82 billion. Part of the jump can be attributed to mobile devices, as more consumers turn to smartphones and tablets to land a bargain, and more retailers are prepared to meet them there. You do have your聽聽downloaded and ready to go, right?
Projected "Green Monday" Spending: $1.275 Billion
You've no doubt heard of Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Return Stuff Wednesday ... but Green Monday? eBay coined the term back in 2007 or so to refer to the second Monday in December, which tends to be a very busy day for online retailers. In 2012,聽, up 13% over 2011 and ranking as the third heaviest online spending day of the year, according to comScore. And like our other projections, these numbers are expected to climb even higher this year.
Thanksgiving Turkeys Eaten: 48 Million
You may be asking what turkey consumption has to do with Black Friday. But have you ever tried going shopping on a聽regular day聽on an empty stomach? Fortunately, shoppers are mostly well fed pre-Black Friday: turkey consumption continues to rise with聽.
Shoppers Who Find Black Friday Fun: 57%
滨苍听, out of 460 consumers with an average age of 33, more than half found Black Friday crowds more energizing than aggravating. For the remaining 43% who thought the in-store experience was annoying, we hear you. Indeed, that's what online shopping's for.
And whether you're braving the midnight sales, or shopping from the comfort of your laptop or smartphone, remember to pace yourself. There will be a few online doorbusters, and you've got a whole four weeks to shop before Christmas. And since we here at DealNews still believe every day is聽like, you can will find some great deals throughout the season.
