Black Friday In July Expected To See Surge in Sales

For some consumers, it’s never too early to shop for holiday.

Holiday Shopping Heats Up Early, According to Bazaarvoice Report

With some cable channels such as Hallmark Media focused on Christmas in July movies, and retailers pushing July specials to compete with Amazon Prime sales for July 16 and 17, shoppers on the hunt for deals have plenty of options to choose from.

A Bazaarvoice 2024 Global Holiday Season Consumer Behavior study found while more than half of U.S. consumers start their holiday gift shopping by October, 21 percent start by August or earlier. And more than half begin their holiday shopping journey online.

“The Amazon Prime event is encouraging people to shop now,” Walter Loeb, a former retail executive and Wall Street retail analyst, said. And while it might be too early for consumers to shop for holiday decorations, sales and special deals abound in multiple categories. Loeb noted that even the warehouse club Costco is “having a great clearance sale” for its members, featuring extra savings online in a section dubbed “while supplies last” and another labeled “this week’s treasure hunt.”

While many are using the July sales to shop for back-to-school , Loeb said consumers who see good deals—whether for themselves or for gift-giving—will likely make those purchases now to save some bucks.

Adobe Analytics said Prime Day is expected to drive a record $14 billion online for U.S. retailers, representing 10 percent growth year-over-year and a new record for the event. Adobe expects Day 1 to drive $7.1 billion online, up 11.3 percent from the year-ago tally. Day 2 is forecasted to drive $6.9 billion online, up 9.2 percent year-over-year.

Adobe said spend will be driven by steeper discounts this year, ranging between 9 percent and 22 percent off list price. Electronics is expected to have the biggest discounts at 22 percent versus 14 percent a year ago. Apparel discounts are expected at 20 percent versus 12 percent a year ago.

Global marketing agency NP Digital analyzed an independent sample of 1 million posts from X, Reddit and TikTok in the U.S. from June to the present and found that 89 percent of people are planning to buy something on Prime Day, with 66 percent indicating they are shopping for themselves and 34 percent stating they are buying for others.

And Shash Anand, senior vice president of product strategy at global mobile tech solutions provider SOTI said that Amazon Prime Day has become more than a discount day, noting that its “now dubbed as the ‘New Black Friday,’ [Prime] doesn’t just boost sales, it brings in new customers across all generations who likely to stick around.”

Other big players such as Walmart, Target, and Macy’s are launching specials sales of their own, with huge discounts on home, electronics and more. Whether consumers are shopping for themselves, BTS or getting a jump on holiday, Anand said retailers using advanced technology can get a good read on “real-time insights into their supply chains and what their customers want.” He also said research found that “48 percent of U.S. consumers said they would look elsewhere if delivery or pick-up of an item is more than two days.”

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Retailers have also been bringing in more volume over the past few months, heading into peak summer season as most holiday goods are shipped between August and October. Some retailers are bringing more goods now in anticipation of escalating freight rates and unresolved labor negotiations at the East and Gulf Coast ports .

But some of the incoming volumes are also due to an increase in consumer spending as they pick up deals whenever they see them.

“Consumers have begun more recently to look for deals and are being a little smarter about how they spend. They’ve really been shopping for the winter holiday season a little earlier than usual,” according to Daniel Hackett, who spoke on May 20 at a Port of Los Angeles monthly press conference on shipping statistics. Hackett is a partner with Hackett Associates, the company that prepares the quarterly Global Port Tracker report for the National Retail Federation.

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