With Black Friday just around the corner, retailers are bracing themselves for the usual frenzy of holiday shoppers. But much of the bargain hunting may take place outside of brick-and-mortar stores this year: online shopping and more reasonable hours of operation are likely to be more common in 2015.
According to a recent survey conducted by CouponBox.com, nearly 31% of consumers plan to stick to online shopping during the 2015 holiday season. Younger consumers are more likely to shop the Black Friday sales as well, whether online or off: 37% of 18-24 year olds plan to shop local Black Friday sales, while 40% will shop the deals online.
One of the more controversial retail industry trends—opening for Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving—is also persisting to some degree in 2015, with many retailers announcing that they will again be opening their doors to the crowds on Thursday evening.
However, other retailers are taking a different approach by deciding to remain closed on the holiday. Game Stop and Staples are among the retail chains that will stay closed on November 26.
A recent LP Magazine poll asked readers whether retail stores should be open on Thanksgiving. The majority of respondents (76%) felt that the current industry trend of opening on Turkey Day is a negative one and that the holiday should be reserved for family and friends. In consideration of other omni-channel retailing opportunities, 22% of poll respondents thought that retailers should explore other options and avenues, such as e-commerce, for offering Black Friday deals.
These results align with other national polls asking the same question: a PBS NewsHour poll of more than 18,000 consumers found that 98% of participants voted to keep stores closed on Thanksgiving.