As business analysts review 2015 Black Friday and Cyber Monday statistics, many have observed the former day-long events have become online, week-long, and season-long promotions.
Total spend in 2015 between Thanksgiving and Black Friday reached $12.3 billion, with almost $2 billion on Thanksgiving Day alone.
Thanksgiving holiday will never change, it is clear that the age-old holiday tradition of heading out to stores with family and friends is now equally matched in the new tradition of looking online for holiday savings opportunities.
Black Friday in-store sales in 2015 remained relatively flat while online sales increased by 14 percent to $4.45 billion, with half of all purchases initiated on mobile devices.
IBM reported a new mobile milestone in 2015: purchases made on mobile devices on Black Friday exceeded desktop spend for the first time. The survey also revealed 57 percent of sales in the opening days of the holiday season were made online.
The National Retail Federation acknowledged a 5.2 percent decrease in in-store traffic between Thanksgiving Day and Sunday, with 133.7 consumer shoppers in 2015 compared with 141.1 million in 2014. NRF members expect overall holiday spend to reach $630.5 billion in 2015, with 46 percent of that spent online.