Less than 20% of consumers plan to shop on Black Friday, with most of them starting their holiday shopping earlier.
This change marks a significant shift from 2015, when 60% of consumers did their holiday shopping on Thanksgiving, PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2022 survey of 4,000 consumers shows.
The majority of consumers (41%) instead plan to do the bulk of their shopping between the preceding Thursday and Monday of the Thanksgiving weekend to buy their holiday gifts.
This shift in consumer behavior has come along with a change in retailers’ holiday sales strategy. More retailers are now beginning to offer holiday deals much earlier instead of waiting till the Thanksgiving weekend. For example, Walmart began offering holiday deals to its subscribers in late October 2022. Similarly, Amazon hosted a second Prime Day event in October to entice early holiday shoppers.
“What Amazon wants to do is be part of that early crowd and get a bite of the cherry,” said Neil Saunders, managing director at GlobalData Retail last month. “And the best way to do that is, rather than having little deals here and there, is to have a big day that’s almost like a holiday kickoff.”
While consumers’ decision to make their holiday purchases earlier than usual is something that was also observed last year, the reason they are doing so changed. Shoppers made early purchases to avoid shipping and other supply chain-related delays the previous year, while more consumers are shopping earlier this year to find the best deals.
