Research Topic

Arlington, Va. - An estimated 51.2 million American adults (45% of all shoppers) bought or planned to buy consumer technology products during the 2014 Thanksgiving shopping weekend. According to a new survey released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), while overall shopping traffic was down slightly this holiday weekend compared to the prior year, several areas saw notable growth, including reported spending per person and tech purchases.  

New York - Despite some of the most promotional activity and extended operating hours the retail industry has ever seen, total spending for the four-day Black Friday weekend came in below projections, down a surprising 11.3% from last year.  According to the National Retail Federation's preliminary figures,  weekend spending dropped to  $50.9 billion from $57.4 billion last year.   

New York - Across the country, there was strong support for local businesses on Small Business Saturday, with shopping up 14.9% from last year, according to the results from the Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, released today by American Express and the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB).    

Move over pumpkin pie: Black Friday fervor seemed to stir up more conversations on social media than the Thanksgiving holiday itself.

According to Salesforce.com, social media posts about Black Friday shopping numbered 2.7 million. Roughly 278,000 posts were stamped with the hashtag "#blackfriday" and another 8,000 were labeled "#deals," vs. just 85,000 with "#Thanksgiving."

There were also about 1.84 million holiday shopping posts on Thanksgiving Day, and about 719,000 posts the day before Thanksgiving.

San Francisco - Compared to the 2012 and 2013 peak shopping seasons, paid search spending began to rise nine days prior to Thanksgiving in 2014, four days earlier than the years prior. According to data from predictive marketing technology provider Kenshoo, not only has the shopping season been extended in 2014, but retailers are investing more budget into their paid search campaigns this year than ever before. 

New York - Online sales were up 17% on Saturday and Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, compared to the same weekend in 2013, according to IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. What's more, mobile traffic accounted for 51.2%  of all online traffic this past weekend, an increase of 25.5% year over year, and mobile sales accounted for 28.9% of all online sales this past weekend, an increase of 24.9% year over year.   

By Kosha Gada  

Online sales are expected to reach $300 billion in 2014, $335 billion in 2015 and $512 billion by 2020.

According to business forecasting experts at FTI Consulting Inc., online sales will continue to grow at a double-digit rate for the next several years.