NRF Forecasts 121M Cyber Monday Shoppers
NRF Forecasts 121M Cyber Monday Shoppers
The NRF’s Thanksgiving weekend results showed that 103 million people shopped online over the weekend.
The National Retail Federation’s Cyber Monday Expectations Survey predicts 121 million shoppers plan to shop online on Cyber Monday, down slightly from the 126.9 million who last year said they would do so.
The survey found that 29.6 million consumers said they will use their mobile device to shop on Cyber Monday, while 80 percent said they will use their home computers to shop online.
Meanwhile, online shoppers outnumbered their brick-and-mortar counterparts during U.S. Black Friday weekend, according to the NRF. More than 103 million people shopped online over the four-day weekend, which started Thursday on Thanksgiving and continued with Black Friday, compared to fewer than 102 million who ventured into traditional stores, the retail monitoring group said.
The shift online has been a mixed blessing for the retail industry. While it’s given companies one more way to reach consumers, a slowdown in mall traffic has hurt results at department stores and apparel chains. The growth of e-commerce -- including people using their smartphones to buy gifts -- helped boost the total number of U.S. shoppers to more than 151 million over the weekend, according to the NRF.
NRF President Matthew Shay said in a statement that the industry is seeing “an evolutionary change in holiday shopping by both consumers and retailers,” suggesting that the level of online shopping this year may herald a “new tradition." He added, “We recognize the Thanksgiving weekend shopping experience is much different than it used to be as just as many people want that unique, exclusive online deal as they do that in-store promotion.”
The trade association expects total holiday sales to increase 3.7 percent in November and December from a year earlier. That’s a slowdown from last year’s 4.1 percent gain, but above the 2.5 percent average over the past 10 years. The NRF predicted 121 million shoppers to shop online on Cyber Monday, down slightly from the 126.9 million who last year said they would do so. The survey found that 29.6 million consumers said they will use their mobile device to shop on Cyber Monday, while 80% said they will use their home computers
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