Data coming in from the US on Thanksgiving Weekend sales is enough reason to put a shine in the eyes of businesses, and amongst them, of those in the gems & jewellery industry. There are also some new insights to be gained from the data: for example, more and more consumers are taking the multi – or omni – channel route to do their shopping; and this year saw the distinct presence of a new, younger set of buyers in the marketplace.

The National Retail Federation (NRF), US’s largest apex body of retailers, said that multichannel shopping was up almost 40% over last year.

“From Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, more than 165 million Americans shopped either in stores or online, surpassing the 164 million who had said they would shop in a consumer sentiment survey conducted ahead of the holiday,” the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics (the firm conducting the survey) said.

Going on to break down the spending trends, NRF said: “The average shopper spent US$ 313.29 on gifts and other holiday items over the five-day period, down from US$ 335.47 during the same period last year. Of the total, US$ 217.37 or 69% was specifically spent on gifts. The biggest spenders were older millennials and Gen Xers (35-44 years old) at US$ 413.05.”

"This is a very strong emotional start to the holiday season and a positive indicator of where we are headed over the next month,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

He added: “For several years, we’ve been talking about the dynamic nature of the retail industry and the speed of change necessary to meet the consumer demand. This year’s research clearly shows that the investments made by retailers are paying off in a big way. Over the last couple of days, what I heard in discussions with retail CEOs across all categories and segments was very positive, driven by macro conditions of low unemployment and rising wages combined with the right mix of merchandise at great prices.”

One strong factor bolstering retail performance was investment in technology by retailers, which NRF said, “continued to pay off with consumers seamlessly shopping on all platforms throughout the weekend”.

NRF noted: “The survey found more than 89 million people shopped both online and in stores, up nearly 40 per cent from last year. The multichannel shopper outspent the single-channel shopper by up to US$ 93 on average.”

NRF asserted that Thanksgiving weekend was record-breaking for the retail industry, and in line with its own earlier forecast for growth of holiday sales of up to 4.8% over the months of November and December.

Notably, NRF said, a new segment of consumers can be seen to be getting active. The organisation said: “In addition, purchases over the long weekend showed new trends coming from younger consumers, with Gen Zers and younger millennials aged 18-24 spending an average US$ 149 on holiday purchases for themselves, more than any other generation.”

However, a fact to be noted by the gems and jewellery industry is that the category does not feature at the top of in the wishlist. “Top purchases over the weekend included apparel (bought by 57 per cent of those surveyed), toys (34 per cent), books and video games (29 per cent), electronics (26 per cent) and gift cards (20 per cent),” NRF said.

“This year, Gen Zers and millennials changed the way they shopped over Thanksgiving weekend,” Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist said. “These younger shoppers have become savvier when it comes to their research by leveraging social media to find inspiration for their purchasing decisions and used the holiday weekend to splurge on non-gift purchases for the season.”

NRF said that the most popular day to shop online was Cyber Monday, cited by 67.4 million shoppers, closely followed by Black Friday with 65.2 million shoppers. However, Black Friday remained the most popular day for in-store shopping with more than 67 million shoppers, followed by Small Business Saturday with 47.4 million shoppers. “Also, 66 per cent of smartphone owners used their mobile devices to make holiday decisions, up from 63 per cent last year,” NRF said.

However, the bonanza days are not over. There are still several days left before Christmas, so the shopping spree is likely to continue.  “On average, consumers have more than half (56 per cent) of their holiday shopping left to do,” NRF found. “Many consumers (92 per cent) believe that the strong deals seen over Thanksgiving weekend will continue or improve throughout the rest of the season.”

In terms of shopping destinations during the weekend, top preferences included department stores (42%), online retailers (38%), apparel stores (30%), grocery stores (30%), discount stores (29%) and electronics stores (27%).

Meanwhile Adobe Analytics Data also confirmed that Cyber Monday online sales is set to break all records. Adobe releasing its 2018 online shopping data for Cyber Monday and the holiday week overall, on Monday itself, said: “Cyber Monday is projected to hit US$ 7.9 billion by the end of the day, making it the largest online shopping day of all time in the U.S. This represents a 19.7 per cent increase year-over-year (YoY) as of 7:00 p.m. ET. In comparison, Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday brought in US$ 3.7 billion (28 per cent growth YoY) and US$ 6.2 billion (23.6 per cent growth YoY) in revenue, respectively. Saturday and Sunday, November 24 and 25, set a new record as the biggest online shopping weekend in the U.S. (US$ 6.4 billion) growing faster than Black Friday and Cyber Monday with more than 25 per cent on each day. The full season thus far (November 1 to 26) drove US$ 58.5 billion in online sales, a 19.9 per cent increase, with every day generating over $1 billion.”

“Cyber Monday sales topped $7.9 billion according to Adobe Analytics data, making it the single largest shopping day in U.S. history,” said John Copeland, head of Marketing and Customer Insights at Adobe. “Sales coming from smartphones hit an all-time high of US$ 2 billion and we saw a significant spike in the Buy Online, Pickup In-Store trend.”

Interestingly, Adobe Analytics which also tracks send by cities, found: “Denver had the biggest shopping baskets since Thanksgiving with orders averaging US$ 163, followed by US$ 157 in San Francisco, US$ 156 in New York, US$ 156 in Portland and US$ 154 in the Seattle/Tacoma area. The nationwide average is US$ 138, up 6.1 per cent YoY as shoppers have gotten more comfortable buying more and bigger ticket items online.”