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A show of hands for everyone who felt like a winner after driving to the area shopping center thinking it would be a zoo and finding manageable(as opposed to insufferable)crowds and well-staffed stores?Holiday 2015 has been a stark contrast to relatively re-cent years,when gift shopping used to mean throngs of shoppers angrily navi-gating parking lots,check out lines,mobbed food courts,messy clothing racks,and crowded corridors.This year,digital shopping has changed ev-erything-except,most likely,the bot-tom line.
Analysts are still predicting overall holiday sales increases in the low single digits over last year.But the way they reach that marker has changed,with mobile shopping emerg-ing as the dark horse.
"My take is that the sales environ-ment is uneven and,of course.more dominated by online purchases,"says Michael Niemira,principal and chief economist for The Retail Economist.
The National Retail Federation expects sales to grow 3.9 percent and the International Council of Shopping Centers projects a 3.3 percent increase over 2014.
Between mobile and online shop-ping,as well as unseasonably warm weather.foot traffic has been down in stores.ShopperTrak reported there was a 10.4 percent decrease in in-store sales over Black Friday week-end,but ecommerce sales were up 16 percent.In fact,Cyber Monday reached $3.11 billion in total digital spending,according to comScore,making it the heaviest ecommerce spending day in history.Mobiles sales accounted for 27 percent of the total,with $838 million spent via smart-phones and tablets.
Before the season even got under-way this year,nearly half(47 percent)of all holiday shoppers planned to shop for gifts online on Cyber Mon-day,followed by Black Friday(43 per-cent),and national free shipping days(23 percent),according to the Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle MonitorrM Sur-vey. Meanwhile,44 percent planned to shop for gifts in-store on Black Friday,followed by Small Business Saturday(16 percent),after Christmas(16 percent,down significantly from 25 percent in 2013 and 2012),and on Thanksgiving Day(13 percent).
WSL's holiday survey found fewer shoppers were excited about Black Fri-day because"the sales aren't as good as they used to be"(73 percent)and they anticipated crowds that"are toocrazy"(87 percent).
Another big change to the holiday shopping season is its length.Shop-pers start early but they're well aware that the deals just keep on coming even after the fat man sings,"Ho hoho."Prosper Insights reports 57 per-cent of holiday gift givers had begun their shopping as of November 10.But since they'd already gotten a start on their list,consumers planned to slow down over the Black Friday weekend.Prosper reports Black Friday weekend shopping dropped 5 percent between 2013 and 2014. While a number of news outlets have reported that this year's unsea-sonably warm weather has left retailers with high inventories that need to be drastically marked down,the holidays are traditionally a pricing game,where consumers tend to wait for deals right up until the final week before Christ-mas.According to a survey from Re-tale of 2014 shoppers,15 percent of all holiday gift buyers wait until the last minute.And First Data noted that 9 0ut of 10 of the top spending days occur in December.In fact,Christmas Eve was the biggest spending day last year,while foot traffic was strongest on the Sunday before Christmas.
Of course,the increase in gift card giving has turned January into a strong season for shopping,as con-sumers look to redeem their cards on deeply discounted merchandise.The MonitorrM survey shows 61 percent of shoppers plan to give gift cards this year,followed by clothes(58 percent),toys(43 percent),and electronics(35percent).
Still,apparel is traditionally a fa-vored gift item,and more than 8 in 10 shoppers(85 percent)plan to spend more(23 percent)or the same(62 per-cent)on clothing gifts this year com-pared to last,according to the Moni-tor survey.
And among those who plan to give clothes as gifts,the Monitor finds about two-thirds plan to make their purchases in-store versus one-third online.
While sales dropped 6.3 percent the week after Thanksgiving,accord-ing to The Retail Economist-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index,they were up l.7 percent from the year before.And there are signs consum-ers have money to spend this year.Job gains,lower unemployment and a strong housing market have helped keep consumer sentiment positive for the 2015 season.Decreased gas prices have also helped put more money in consumers' wallets.Nationally,the average price per gallon is at the $2 mark,which is.55 cents lower than last year,according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.Analysts say a penny drop in gas prices puts a billion dollars back in shoppers' pockets.
"We've had low gas prices for over a year and that really impacts people's ability to spend,"says the ICSC's Jesse Tron,vice president andspokesman.
Analysts are still predicting overall holiday sales increases in the low single digits over last year.But the way they reach that marker has changed,with mobile shopping emerg-ing as the dark horse.
"My take is that the sales environ-ment is uneven and,of course.more dominated by online purchases,"says Michael Niemira,principal and chief economist for The Retail Economist.
The National Retail Federation expects sales to grow 3.9 percent and the International Council of Shopping Centers projects a 3.3 percent increase over 2014.
Between mobile and online shop-ping,as well as unseasonably warm weather.foot traffic has been down in stores.ShopperTrak reported there was a 10.4 percent decrease in in-store sales over Black Friday week-end,but ecommerce sales were up 16 percent.In fact,Cyber Monday reached $3.11 billion in total digital spending,according to comScore,making it the heaviest ecommerce spending day in history.Mobiles sales accounted for 27 percent of the total,with $838 million spent via smart-phones and tablets.
Before the season even got under-way this year,nearly half(47 percent)of all holiday shoppers planned to shop for gifts online on Cyber Mon-day,followed by Black Friday(43 per-cent),and national free shipping days(23 percent),according to the Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle MonitorrM Sur-vey. Meanwhile,44 percent planned to shop for gifts in-store on Black Friday,followed by Small Business Saturday(16 percent),after Christmas(16 percent,down significantly from 25 percent in 2013 and 2012),and on Thanksgiving Day(13 percent).
WSL's holiday survey found fewer shoppers were excited about Black Fri-day because"the sales aren't as good as they used to be"(73 percent)and they anticipated crowds that"are toocrazy"(87 percent).
Another big change to the holiday shopping season is its length.Shop-pers start early but they're well aware that the deals just keep on coming even after the fat man sings,"Ho hoho."Prosper Insights reports 57 per-cent of holiday gift givers had begun their shopping as of November 10.But since they'd already gotten a start on their list,consumers planned to slow down over the Black Friday weekend.Prosper reports Black Friday weekend shopping dropped 5 percent between 2013 and 2014. While a number of news outlets have reported that this year's unsea-sonably warm weather has left retailers with high inventories that need to be drastically marked down,the holidays are traditionally a pricing game,where consumers tend to wait for deals right up until the final week before Christ-mas.According to a survey from Re-tale of 2014 shoppers,15 percent of all holiday gift buyers wait until the last minute.And First Data noted that 9 0ut of 10 of the top spending days occur in December.In fact,Christmas Eve was the biggest spending day last year,while foot traffic was strongest on the Sunday before Christmas.
Of course,the increase in gift card giving has turned January into a strong season for shopping,as con-sumers look to redeem their cards on deeply discounted merchandise.The MonitorrM survey shows 61 percent of shoppers plan to give gift cards this year,followed by clothes(58 percent),toys(43 percent),and electronics(35percent).
Still,apparel is traditionally a fa-vored gift item,and more than 8 in 10 shoppers(85 percent)plan to spend more(23 percent)or the same(62 per-cent)on clothing gifts this year com-pared to last,according to the Moni-tor survey.
And among those who plan to give clothes as gifts,the Monitor finds about two-thirds plan to make their purchases in-store versus one-third online.
While sales dropped 6.3 percent the week after Thanksgiving,accord-ing to The Retail Economist-Goldman Sachs Weekly Chain Store Sales Index,they were up l.7 percent from the year before.And there are signs consum-ers have money to spend this year.Job gains,lower unemployment and a strong housing market have helped keep consumer sentiment positive for the 2015 season.Decreased gas prices have also helped put more money in consumers' wallets.Nationally,the average price per gallon is at the $2 mark,which is.55 cents lower than last year,according to the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report.Analysts say a penny drop in gas prices puts a billion dollars back in shoppers' pockets.
"We've had low gas prices for over a year and that really impacts people's ability to spend,"says the ICSC's Jesse Tron,vice president andspokesman.