Holiday shoppers ready, set and now go

Cyber Monday will attract an estimated 1.7 million shoppers in the Silver State

Thanksgiving just ended, and consumers all over Nevada spent the day with family and friends. However, with Thanksgiving comes one of the biggest shopping weekends of the season, and thousands of Nevadans are spending the final days before the holiday planning their strategy for getting the best deals retailers have to offer. According to the Retail Association of Nevada (RAN), more than 930,000 Nevada residents ages 18 and over will be shopping on Black Friday this year, up from an estimated 760,000 who shopped on the same day last year. The potential increase is attributable to a growing population base as well as an improving economy and drop in the unemployment rate.

Black Friday will be the biggest shopping day of the weekend according to the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) 2015 preliminary results, followed by Saturday, when 49.0 percent of potential holiday weekend shoppers said they would visit a store or shop online. Additionally, 76.3 percent of Saturday shoppers said they will or may shop specifically for “Small Business Saturday.” Based on these results, RAN estimates 620,000 residents in the Silver State will be opening their wallets on Saturday, with more than 470,000 residents doing so to support small businesses.

Notably, Thanksgiving, which was the third-busiest shopping day during Thanksgiving weekend in 2014, will attract the fewest shoppers in 2015. According to the NRF, 22.3 percent of Thanksgiving weekend shoppers plan to go to a store or shop online on Thursday this year, which is down from the 32.2 percent reported last year. In Nevada, RAN predicts more than 280,000 consumers will shop on the holiday this year, down from nearly 380,000 in 2014.

Bryan Wachter, Senior Vice President of RAN, noted, “The decline in Thursday shoppers is partially attributable to the more than two dozen retailers nationwide who announced they would be keeping their doors closed on Thanksgiving this year, including Staples, GameStop, Costco, Sam’s Club, T.J. Maxx, Home Goods, Marshalls, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Barnes and Noble and more. Recreational Equipment Inc. (REI) will be closed on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, as the retailer tries to encourage customers and employees to spend the day outdoors. Additionally, many consumers may be opting to delay hitting the stores until Friday morning, so they can spend more time with family and friends during the holiday.”

The latest shopping estimates for this weekend are based on the results of the NRF’s Preliminary Thanksgiving Weekend Survey, which found that of the 135.8 million consumers nationwide who say they will or may shop during Thanksgiving weekend (Thursday-Sunday), 73.5 percent will shop on Black Friday. While these estimates are preliminary, they are up from the results reported in the NRF’s 2014 Thanksgiving Weekend Spending Survey, which was conducted the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving and paints a clearer picture of actual trends during the four-day period. The survey found that roughly 133.7 million consumers nationwide shopped over Thanksgiving weekend last year, with 65.0 percent hitting a store or shopping online on Black Friday.

While not part of the Thanksgiving weekend, any discussion of the start of the holiday shopping season is not complete without the mention of Cyber Monday, or the first Monday after Thanksgiving. In the past, Cyber Monday was a day when consumers with slow Internet connections at home would shop for gifts online when they got back to work Monday morning. However, with the increase in high-speed Internet connections at home as well as the growing popularity of using mobile devices to make purchases, the online shopping spree is not limited to Monday but has extended to the entire Thanksgiving weekend. Nevertheless, Cyber Monday remains the most popular day, and this year, the National Retail Federation estimates 79.6 percent of consumers ages 18 and over nationwide will or may shop online Cyber Monday this year, up from 52.3 percent last year. Assuming these trends hold true in Nevada, RAN estimates 1.7 million Nevadans will be shopping online this Cyber Monday, up from 1.1 million in 2014.

Additional Thanksgiving weekend shopping estimates will be released next week, including the NRF’s 2015 Thanksgiving Weekend Survey, which will be conducted this Friday and Saturday. RAN will also be releasing its spending growth estimates for the entire 2015 holiday season.