Where the holidays this month will end up is still anyone's guess, but the shopping season kicked off with a bang with Thanksgiving day this year, as for the first time ever, it generated $1.06 billion in online sales, an 18% increase from last year, and the first time the day topped $1 billion online.
Retailers like Walmart and Target reported huge crowds on Thanksgiving Day, and as a result were ‘emptied out’ by Black Friday.
According to Wall Street analysts, these figures indicate that the holiday could in fact overtake Black Friday online sales within the next five years.
"Crowds appear to have driven in mass to more upscale shopping malls, leaving the Big Box stores with more employees than customers in some cases," the publication reported.
Prediction of spending overall is upped
According to the 14th annual holiday spending survey conducted by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), the intention of consumers to increase holiday spending from last year is consistent with, and may well reflect, perceived improvement in their financial situation.
The five percentage point gap between those who said their financial situation was better (24%) and those who said it was worse (29%) was the smallest since CFA and CUNA began asking the question in 2009. In 2011, this gap was 18 percentage points (19% better, 37% worse).
Since 2012, the Federation reports the percentage who said they would spend more than the previous year rose from 12 to 13, whilst those who said they would spend less declined from 38 to 32. These changes continue the trend from 2011, when only 8% said they would spend more while 41% said they would spend less.
"The survey suggests that holiday spending will increase at least as fast as last year. It is also encouraging that fewer Americans see their economic status as worsening, despite on-going federal budget issues in Washington," says Bill Hampel, chief economist for the Credit Union National Association.