From everyone on the DC team, we want to wish you a happy early Thanksgiving and the best of luck for a successful sales weekend. Although many Thanksgiving shoppers have already begun snagging Black Friday deals as they come, the tradition of shopping over Thanksgiving day and through the weekend is still alive and well in many consumers.
This week we look at predictions and analyses of what shopping trends to expect over Thanksgiving weekend.
THIS WEEK’S HIGHLIGHTS
- Thanksgiving week predictions: What lies ahead?
- Independent retailers: How independent retailers are boycotting Black Friday.
- The Fam: Mega-Importers like Walmart and Target pay less for containers.
FOOT TRAFFIC INDEX
Here’s a look at last week’s foot traffic compared to the same time last year.
FOOT TRAFFIC TRENDS
Industry insights so you can convert your foot traffic into more sales.
This week in data
Earlier this week, ICSC released their Thanksgiving weekend Intentions Survey. It detailed how consumers plan to tackle their Thanksgiving week shopping.
The survey expects that Thanksgiving shoppers will spend $491 on average between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. That’s a total of over $108 billion for the weekend. 49% of consumers plan at shopping at brick-and-mortar stores on Thanksgiving. 36% of Thanksgiving shoppers will decide where they shop based on discounts rather than brand loyalty.
For those who work in malls, the survey suggests that 59% of consumers will go there to shop, 47% will eat at a restaurant, and 24% will see a movie.
In regards to Black Friday specifically, 73% of shoppers plan to shop in-store or online depending on where the deals take them. Even with sales being spread out over the past month, the tradition of shopping in-store with your friends and loved ones over Thanksgiving weekend is still not going away any time soon.
Independent retailers boycott Black Friday
This year, 85% of independent retailers plan on boycotting Black Friday by closing their website and donating a portion of sales to non-profits.
The boycott is in part because small independent retailers are not able to compete with the deals that large retailers can offer. Small businesses tend to keep their prices fair all year round and therefore can’t afford to discount heavily just before the busiest time of the year.
On Facebook, a group called “Not on Amazon” was started last November and now has more than 157,000 members. The group is a place where owners of independent creative and artisan businesses can freely advertise the products they have made to others in the group.
The Fam
No Easy Fix: Mega-Importers Like Walmart and Target Pay Less for Containers
If there’s one thing almost everyone in the furniture industry is talking about these days, it’s container prices.
While the average price for a 40-foot container in the home furnishings industry ranges between $4,000-$5,000, they’ve skyrocketed over the last year and a half to $20,000 or higher.
While larger importers like Wal-Mart and Home Depot are still paying fairly low prices for containers—according to Jason Miller, associate professor of supply chain management at Michigan State’s Eli Broad College of Business, smaller businesses like those in the home furnishings industry are taking the brunt of the blow.
Read the full article HERE and learn more about when we might see the price return to normal.
NOTEWORTHY NEWS
October sales: Retail sales rise faster than expected in October.
Report: 30% of Online customer reviews in 2020 are deemed fake.
A new home: Has the pandemic changed living patterns and home design?
Data privacy: Big box retailers sell shoppers’ data for online ads.
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