Surveys point to higher holiday weekend spending
BUSINESS RECORD STAFF Nov 28, 2016 | 9:07 pm
2 min read time
506 wordsAll Latest News, Retail and BusinessConsumers are feeling somewhat more upbeat about current economic conditions, according to a holiday sales forecast by Wells Fargo & Co. And several surveys conducted over the weekend indicate that Americans spent more than last year online and in stores during Black Friday and Small Business Saturday.
Americans spent an estimated $5.27 billion online on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday, a 17.7 percent increase over 2015, according to a survey by Adobe. Sales on Thanksgiving Day accounted for $1.93 billion of Black Friday sales this year, while sales on Friday alone surpassed the $3 billion mark for the first time, for a year-over-year increase of 21.6 percent.
According to a separate survey by the National Retail Federation, the average shopper spent 3.5 percent less over the weekend than a year ago because of early holiday promotions and a belief that deals will always be available. The organization’s annual survey, which polled 4,330 consumers on Friday and Saturday, showed that shoppers spent $289.19 over the four-day weekend, down from $299.60 over the same period last year.
For the entire holiday sales season, Wells Fargo economists expect holiday sales to rise 3.8 percent this year, compared with 2.9 percent last year, the company said in an analysis piece last week.
“While the absence of inflation pressures last year held back the pace of holiday sales, this year our sales growth forecast receives a slight boost from somewhat higher prices this holiday season,” according to the analysis. “Net of inflation effects, we expect real consumer spending to grow 2.3 percent in the fourth quarter on an annualized basis, matching the pace of growth in the fourth quarter last year.”
Shazam Inc., the Johnston-based debit card network, said it processed nearly 3.3 million debit transactions on Black Friday, up more than 7 percent from 3.05 million transactions a year ago. Transactions totaled $59.48 million this year, compared with $57.15 million last year.
“It appears the average spent per transaction with a debit card was down slightly through the day, but the amount people were pulling out of ATMs in cash was up slightly,” spokesman Patrick Dix said.
The number of people shopping at small businesses on Saturday was up by double digits. Small Business Saturday attracted a record 112 million shoppers, a 13 percent increase over 2015, according to a survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business and American Express.
Consumer spending in the first three quarters of the year came in relatively strong even though consumer demand was somewhat volatile on an annualized basis, according to Wells Fargo.
Third-quarter consumer spending rose a modest 2.1 percent, preceded by annualized growth rates of 4.3 percent in the second quarter and 1.6 percent in the first quarter.
“Interestingly, consumer demand almost followed the beat of U.S. automobile demand during the year,” according to the analysis. “That is, whenever auto demand was strong, then personal consumption expenditures were also strong. Furthermore, although consumption of services has remained positive, the rate of growth of the all-important services sector has slowed down considerably during the past several months.”
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