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Retail Roundup: 9 Reports on the Start to the Holiday Season
How Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and the weekend overall went for retailers.
New York—Though “Cyber Monday” shopping will continue all day today, preliminary reports indicate that the holiday season is off to a strong start.
Online sales for Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday and Small Business Saturday all were up, and Cyber Monday is forecast to be the biggest online shopping day in U.S. history.
National Jeweler will be conducting its own survey of independent retailers today and Tuesday; if you would like to be interviewed about how Black Friday weekend went in your store, contact one of our editors.
In the meantime, here is a roundup of early weekend results that might be of interest.
1. Online retail sales on Thanksgiving Day jumped 28% from last year.
Numerous news websites are quoting numbers from Adobe Analytics about e-commerce performance over the weekend. According to this MarketWatch report, Thanksgiving Day online sales totaled $3.7 billion, up 28 percent over last year.
2. E-retailers raked in the green Thanksgiving weekend, and the outlook for Cyber Monday is merry.
This Internet Retailer report states that online sales on Black Friday were up more than 20 percent compared with 2017, with consumers spending $6.22 billion online that day.
3. Shoppers still packed the malls on Black Friday.
It wasn’t all about online shopping, though. In this Black Friday report, NPR highlights the scenes at malls in a few cities and talks to consumers about why they’re out shopping in stores.
4. Black Friday sale are indicative of a “retail rebound.”
Forbes takes a quick look at what the weekend and its results could mean for the rest of the season.
5. But not everyone did great.
Here’s a look from Retail Dive at the retailers that crushed the weekend, as well as those that didn’t do so hot.
6. Black Friday was tamer than usual for some.
This New York Times’ report offers several insights into the shopping day, including the changing nature of why people are shopping in stores—as the NRF has mentioned—its increasing competition and more.
7. Small Business Saturday is on track to hit a milestone.
It looks like Small Business Saturday shared in the wealth this year as well. Here’s MarketWatch’s take at how the day went.
8. Cyber Monday and Black Friday are merging.
Just as retailers are offering Black Friday deals earlier and earlier on Thanksgiving Day, blending the two shopping days, so too are consumers habits of buying online and
picking up in store merging the weekend days into one large shopping event, CBS News said in this story.
9. Cyber Monday 2018 could be the biggest online shopping day in U.S. history.
Business Insider shares thoughts on how the day will turn out.
9. Cyber Monday 2018 could be the biggest online shopping day in U.S. history.
Business Insider shares thoughts on how the day will turn out.
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