Cyber Week signals look encouraging

Most consumers are still interested in the traditional “Cyber Week” (Thanksgiving though  Cyber Monday) holiday shopping period.

According to an October 2022 survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers from Drive Research, more than 80% of respondents will shop during Cyber Week 2022, which runs from Thursday, Nov. 24 through Monday, Nov. 28.

While only 32% of respondents plan to shop in person on Black Friday, a 9% decrease from 2021, almost two-thirds (64%) intend to shop online during Cyber Monday, a substantial 42% year-over-year increase. This will make Cyber Monday the second-most popular online shopping day of Cyber Week, behind Black Friday (69%). Millennials/Gen Y/Gen Z are the generations who will shop online the most (86%) during Cyber Week.

Of respondents who plan to shop in-person on Black Friday, 46% will not wait in a line that is more than 30 minutes to enter a store, and 32% are only willing to wait 30 to 60 minutes.

Nearly half of respondents said shopping malls will be important for their 2022 holiday shopping needs (47%), with shopping malls ranking third among in-person shopping destinations for Black Friday (34%), behind Target (58%) and Walmart (62%). Over half of respondents (54%) said they are more likely to shop at stores that offer buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) capabilities during the holiday season.

Other interesting findings from the survey include:

• 79% of respondents agree retail locations should be closed on Thanksgiving.
• Amazon and Target will be the most popular places to shop online during Cyber Week.
• One in five respondents will spend $1,000 or more on holiday shopping, a 43% increase from 2021. More commonly, respondents will spend $200 to $399 (23%) and $400 to $599 (22%) during Cyber Week 2022.
• Clothing, electronics, and toys will be the biggest product purchase categories during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
• Clothing and arts and crafts supplies will be the biggest product purchase categories on Small Business Saturday (Nov. 26).
• One-quarter (26%) of respondents won’t finish their holiday shopping until the week leading up to Christmas.
• Not liking large crowds is the most popular reason (58%) given by respondents who said they don’t plan to shop during Cyber Week.

Survey: Americans still like Black Friday, Cyber Monday
A recent survey from video-based human insight company UserTesting indicates U.S. consumers have not lost their affection for heading to stores on Black Friday. More than half (63%) of respondents to the survey consider in-store Black Friday shopping a tradition, and 42% said in-store Black Friday shopping holds more importance for them than it did before the pandemic

The UserTesting study also reveals that nearly all (95%) respondents plan to participate in Black Friday and Cyber Monday events for 2022, with one-third planning to shop both online and in-store. Despite inflation, 31% plan to spend more money than in previous years. 26% plan to spend about the same amount as previously and 40% plan to spend less.