North Carolinians like to do their early holiday shopping online, new poll finds
More North Carolinians prefer doing their Thanksgiving holiday shopping online than in person, according to a High Point University Poll released this week.
The poll involved 1,015 respondents and was done between Nov. 10 and Nov. 17.
When asked specifically about shopping on Black Friday, 28% said they would, 52% said they would skip it and 19% were unsure.
By comparison, when asked about Cyber Monday shopping, 44% said they would, 30% said they would not and 26% said they were unsure.
When asked about choosing between the two, more poll respondents said they would be shopping Cyber Monday at 40% than Black Friday at 20%. About 25% of respondents said they would not shop either day.
Black Friday has traditionally marked the day when many retailers begin turning a profit for the year, and their financial numbers shift from red ink to black.
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In recent years, it has been the second-busiest day of the in-person shopping season, following the Saturday before Christmas.
“The pattern of increasing online purchases will continue this holiday season because of consumer convenience,” said Jerry Fox, an HPU associate professor of economics.
“One positive factor contributing to spending is on-going low unemployment.
“But this is offset by the negative impact of high inflation and rising interest rates on holiday purchases,” Fox said.
Meanwhile, analysts say online shopping will continue to devour larger chunks of what the National Retail Federation projects will be between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion in retail sales during the 2022 holiday season.
According to the federation’s survey, more than two-thirds (69%) of holiday shoppers plan to shop during Thanksgiving weekend this year.
The top reasons consumers plan to shop are because the deals are too good to pass up (59%), because of tradition (27%) or because it is something to do (22%) over the holidays.
Those sales projections are contingent, however, to the extent to which inflation, particularly high gasoline prices, curbs consumers’ spending appetite.
Insider Intelligence reported in its 2022 holiday-spending report that Cyber Monday will lead the five-day Thanksgiving holiday period with $11.84 billion in retail sales, followed by Black Friday at $9.81 billion, Thanksgiving Day at $5.5 billion, Small Business Saturday at $5.34 billion and Cyber Sunday at $5.02 billion.
The HPU Poll also asked respondents where they plan to do most of their overall shopping.
About 39% of respondents said they would shop both in-person only, while 33% would be online mostly and 14% in-person mostly.
About 30% of respondents said they would spend less on holiday gifts and other expenditures this year, while 41% would spend about the same amount and 24% would spend more.
When asked how much they plan to spend, the poll found that on average, respondents would spend $859 on gifts, food, decorations and other items related to the holidays.