With Black Friday behind us and Cyber Week in full swing, crunch time is near and shoppers are feeling the heat of looming shipping deadlines and inventory that has flown off the shelves.

The practice of opening on the holiday has drawn criticism for keeping employees from celebrating with their families—and for doing the same to customers, who would have to give up time typically reserved for Thanksgiving dinner to head to stores for doorbusters.

Business Insider Intelligence research analyst Daniel Keyes, eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman, and senior forecasting analyst at Insider Intelligence Cindy Liu discuss the biggest takeaways from how Thanksgiving holiday shopping went this year. They then talk about the best ways brands can reach female holiday shoppers during the pandemic and how Walmart and Target performed in Q3.

More US consumers than ever say they aren’t spending on the holidays: The expected rebound in holiday shopping hides the fact that many consumers are keeping their wallets closed, while others are turning to buy now, pay later plans for gifts they can’t afford.

Article: 7 takeaways from Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021.

Article: Black Friday 2021 illustrates shifts in consumer behavior and changing retail strategies.

Around a third of holiday shoppers in this group said they planned to shop equally online and in-store during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend in 2021, per an August 2021 Censuswide survey for Tug. Gen X has not only a solid propensity to shop digitally, but also relatively high household wealth.

eMarketer principal analyst Andrew Lipsman discusses the Thanksgiving holiday shopping weekend. He also talks about whether Americans are cutting back on spending to prepare for a recession, what beauty brand shoppers value most and why D2Cs are looking more like traditional brands.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday will both top $10 billion in ecommerce sales

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman said there were more than 750,000 BNPL transactions on Black Friday, a nearly 400% year-over-year (YoY) increase, while Afterpay reported a 34% increase in orders on Black Friday and Cyber Monday with in-store transactions up 442% YoY.

Cyber Monday, Black Friday, and other key shopping day dynamics. Product categories and retailer performance expectations. Digital marketing strategies for promotions, mobile apps, social ads, and more. Plus! Rory Mitchell, executive managing director, Americas, at Criteo, joins the conversation. Presenters:.

In August, 47% of UK holiday shoppers ages 16 and older said they would likely do most or all of their Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping in-store, according to research by Censuswide for digital performance marketing agency Tug. A further 25% said they’d shop equally online and in-store. Retailers will need to up their in-store game.

Article: 7 takeaways from Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021. Article: Afterpay’s Black Friday results highlight evolving consumer trends.

Online consumers in Canada have reason to give thanks during Thanksgiving, even though the country celebrates the holiday more than a month earlier than the US. Retailers in Canada have embraced this weekend as a deals-inspired kickoff to the holiday shopping season, and almost half (43%) of consumers in Canada plan to shop Black Friday, according to the Retail Council of Canada‘s (RCC) second annual holiday shopping survey.

And the recent upswing in use over the holidays may have been the tipping point for the watchdog: PayPal reported a 400% year-over-year increase in BNPL use on Black Friday, for instance. Our take: If the data collected from the CFPB probe suggests that BNPL offerings pose risks to consumers, there will likely be targeted regulations for providers next year.

An Apple store in Texas shuttered for five days when 22 employees tested positive after a busy Black Friday period. The closures come as COVID-19 infections continue to rise in the general population. This development brings new concerns about how the pandemic could affect the holiday season. The iPhone-maker delayed its office return date yet again, opting not to reopen in February as planned.

Thanksgiving and Black Friday also underperformed expectations. We had predicted that Thanksgiving Day would become the ultimate “couch commerce” day, with most big-box retailers’ stores closed that year, driving early Black Friday shopping to smartphones and other ecommerce channels.

Article: 7 takeaways from Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2021. Article: How D2C brands are diversifying consumer experience to disrupt the retail industry.