Accenture: Younger shoppers are the most likely to shop on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday
New York -- Thirty-eight percent of shoppers are likely to shop on Thanksgiving Day this year, according to Accenture’s annual Holiday Shopping Survey. Of those shoppers planning to hit the stores on Thanksgiving, 41% said they will be out shopping between 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and 5 a.m. the next morning.
Millennials are particularly game to hit the stores, with 55% of 18-24 year olds and 61% of 25-34 year olds saying they likely to shop on Thanksgiving Day, compared to just 31% of 45-59 year olds. Eighty percent of 18-24 year olds and 70% of 25-34 year olds plan to shop on Black Friday, compared to 51% of 45-59 year olds.
Although millennial consumers are often perceived to be predominantly online shoppers, 58% of the 18-24 year-old respondents who said they would be shopping on Thanksgiving Day expect to make most of their purchases in a physical store. Interestingly, most of the 45-59 year olds who plan to shop on Thanksgiving, said they expect to make most of their holiday purchases online.
The survey also indicates that the lure of Black Friday as a major shopping event is at its highest level in five years: Fifty-five percent of consumers are likely to shop on the day after Thanksgiving, compared to 53% in 2012.
In other findings:
- Women are more likely than men to be shopping during the Thanksgiving holiday: Forty-two percent of women expect to shop on Thanksgiving Day, compared to 31% of men; and 58% of women expect to shop on Black Friday, compared to 49% of men.
- Discounts will continue to be a big motivator for shopping during the holiday weekend and throughout the season this year. Forty-eight percent said they believe the best discounts of the entire holiday season will be available on Thanksgiving, Black Friday or Cyber Monday – traditionally one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.
“Increasingly shoppers want to shop at their favorite stores, whenever they want and however they want, and retailers have to decide how they are going to respond to this demand,” said Chris Donnelly, global managing director of Accenture’s retail practice. “In a season of almost permanent discounts, many stores have decided they need an event like a Thanksgiving Day opening to help generate excitement and an urgency to buy. For many consumers, Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday shopping has become a two-day ‘doorbuster’ bonanza.”