Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending expected to hit new record (NASDAQ:AAPL)

Despite higher prices caused by inflation, consumers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday are expected to spend a record amount.

Consumers didn’t even wait until Black Friday to open up their wallets. On Friday, Adobe Analytics said that consumers spent ~$5.6B on Thanksgiving Day shopping, a 5.5% increase over what was spent the same date a year ago. The same day, Macy’s (M) CEO Jeff Gennette told Bloomberg the company saw strong online sales on Thanksgiving Day.

In a recent survey, Deloitte estimated that consumers will spend an average of $567 from Nov. 23-Nov. 27. That’s 13% more than the same period last year.

Deloitte’s 2023 Black Friday-Cyber Monday Survey found that ~80% of respondents plan to shop during the five-day period. The professional services company conducted its research of 1.2K consumers between Oct. 19 and Oct. 25

Retailers will be happy to know that 84% of those polled plan to spend the same or more than what they budgeted for in September.

Online retailers will be the recipients of most of the spend — 61% — with the remaining 39% of spend being done at brick-and-mortar stores.

The professional services firm also found that Millennials — loosely defined as those born between 1981 and 1996 — will be responsible for 43% of spend from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. That compares to 23% for Generation X, 20% for Baby Boomers, and 13% for Generation Z.

As far as what consumers will be buying during this time, the most popular category is clothing and accessories with 70% of respondents saying they expect to make purchases in this category. Electronics and accessories, and toys and hobbies are on the minds of 53% of respondents. Only 27% of shoppers have their sights set on food and beverage items.

Earlier in November, the National Retail Federation projected that 182M on people are planning to do shopping in stores or online from Nov. 23-27. That’s 15.7M more consumers than last year.

Nearly 75% of holiday shoppers plan to spend during the five-day period. Also, 72% (130.7M) look to shop on Black Friday, up from 69% last year. About 40% (71.1M) said they would shop on Cyber Monday, according to the NRF.

In early November, the NRF predicted holiday spending in November and December would set a new record, growing 3%-4% higher compared to 2022 to $957.3B-$966.6B.

Top retailers: Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Target (TGT), Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Best Buy (BBY), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Costco (COST), Home Depot (NYSE:HD), Lowe’s Companies (LOW), eBay (EBAY), Wayfair (W), and Etsy (E).

Broadline retailers: Macy’s (M), Nordstrom (JWN), Dillard’s (DDS), Ross Stores (ROST), TJX Companies (TJX), Kohl’s Corp. (KSS), and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet (OLLI).

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