The 2017 holiday shopping season is the first that more U.S. consumers will begin shopping in the middle of the season (Thanksgiving weekend through Cyber Monday) than later in the season (early December), according to The NPD Group. According to NPD’s 2017 Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey, getting a late start to the holiday shopping season has become less prevalent over the last 10 years.
The biggest shift in holiday shopping timing that occurred in recent years was the same year brick-and-mortar retailers introduced earlier store openings on Thanksgiving Day in 2014. Now, in 2017, nearly 30 percent of consumers plan to start their holiday shopping over Thanksgiving weekend, compared to the 12 to 16 percent in the years prior to 2014.
However the largest increase in online shopping plans also occurred in 2014, when 59 percent of consumers planned to shop online during the holiday season, up from 43 percent in 2013. Consumers’ plans to shop online during the holiday season have been steadily climbing. Two-thirds of consumers plan to do at least some of their holiday shopping online in the 2017 holiday season.
