The End of Black Friday? Research Shows Retail Holiday in Decline
ANN ARBOR (WWJ) -- Black Friday shopping may be on the decline, according to a new study by CFI Group, the Ann Arbor customer satisfaction technology and analytics firm.
The 2013 Holiday Retail Spending Report found consumers are placing less emphasis on the post-Thanksgiving event and starting their holiday shopping earlier in the season.
The study found fewer than 25 percent of consumers plan to spend more than half of their total holiday shopping budgets during the Black Friday-to-Cyber Monday period. Furthermore, with only 21 percent of millennials reporting that they plan to shop at all during this period, Black Friday's future is at risk, as millennials become an even more dominant shopping force in the future. (Millennials are generally defined as those born from 1982 to 2004.)
Instead, the report found nearly half of consumers will begin their shopping far before the day after Thanksgiving, with 45 percent reporting they will begin before November and 61 percent indicating they'll finish their shopping completely by early December.
"It's clear the time for retailers to start holiday shopping campaigns is now," said Sheri Petras, CEO of CFI Group. "Consumers are beginning their holiday shopping earlier in the season, and as behavior is shifting beyond traditional Black Friday spending, those who focus solely on Black Friday-centric campaigns will miss significant sales opportunities."
The 2013 Holiday Retail Spending Report measured the shopping habits of consumers during the upcoming holiday season, studying when shoppers plan on beginning their holiday purchases, how much they plan on spending and how these factors compare among age groups and income levels.
Additional key findings include:
* One third of shoppers said store preferences are motivated by promoted sales and coupons, while an additional 25 percent said they prefer to shop at stores that have everyday low prices
* Across income levels, people making less than $50,000 a year are more likely to start and finish shopping earlier this year, while those making more than $100,000 a year reported they won't begin their shopping until the second half of November
* Forty-two percent of consumers plan to spend more than 40 percent of their total holiday budgets online
At a time where customer empowerment is at an all-time high, measuring and understanding drivers of customer experience has never been more important. CFI Group offers a variety of services and tools to help business understand these metrics and make informed decisions, positively impacting financial performance. To learn more, visit www.cfigroup.com.
