Feelter blog

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Predictions 2017

A RetailMeNot survey predicts a 47 percent rise in consumer spending over the upcoming Black Friday weekend compared to the same period in 2016. The survey estimates that on average, consumers are planning on spending $743 during the weekend, up from $505 last year. Meanwhile, a RetailMeNot survey maintains that 56 percent of consumers are planning on making a Cyber Monday purchase, up from 39 percent last year.
forbes

Brands that were Victorious on Black Friday 2016 

Not surprisingly Amazon was one of the big eCommerce winners in the Black Friday 2016 retail stakes. The second biggest winner was REI, which focused its marketing on informing potential customers to get outside and shop. Consumers evidently took advantage of the early shopping trend to complete their Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving.
business2community

Uber Launches Credit Card

Uber plans to introduce a credit card in partnership with Visa and Barclays. Aside from giving users spending benefits, such as $100 after spending $500, Uber will use the card to accumulate enhanced consumer purchasing data. But the success of the card may rely on the short-term memory of consumers, because Uber is still recovering from privacy breach issues in the recent past.
money.cnn

Macy's to Start Black Friday on Thanksgiving

Macy’s is preparing to start its Black Friday shopping weekend on Thanksgiving Day at 5pm. The national chain opened early the last three years. While consumers often tend to view bricks-and-mortar retail stores opening on Thanksgiving in a negative way, the trend towards eCommerce means that shoppers can already shop Black Friday sales early online.
clicklancashire 

eCommerce Prep for Black Friday

Black Friday doesn’t necessarily mean more sales throughout the holiday season. It just means the new trend is more shopping in November and less shopping in December. Shoppers are also becoming better prepared by comparing sales and prices in advance online. For retailers, the Black Friday sales surge makes a welcome addition to their fourth quarter numbers.
businesscomputingworld

Worldwide Payments Revenue up by $0.9 Trillion by 2026  

Global payments will increase $0.9 trillion by 2026, according to the “Global Payments 2017: Deepening the Customer Relationship” report from BCG. Banks need to reinvent their wholesale and retail payment models if they hope to compete, because of a current lack of customer-centricity, integration, and automation. Two of the main factors driving the increase are cashless transactions and emerging markets.
bcg

Amazon to Blame for the Death of Black Friday

The National Retail federation says that 99 million people shopped in stores during Thanksgiving last year, and drop of three million from the year before. By contrast, 108 million consumers shopped online during the same weekend, which was an increase of five million over 2015. Consumers no longer wanting to wait in lines and wanting their purchases without having to navigate crowds were two reasons for the online rise.
businessinsider

Holiday Spending to Drop – Accenture

Bucking the positive holiday sales projections, Accenture maintains that the average gift budget for this coming holiday season is down from $851 last year to $632 this. The reason is that shoppers realize they can get great deals and pay less during non-holiday time frames. As a result, shoppers are doing their holiday season purchasing year–round. An estimated two-thirds of the survey respondents said they are holiday gift shopping year-round.
mediapost

Fraudulent Bank Account Activity Strikes 15% of Consumers in 2016

A survey conducted by Ipsos for March Networks has revealed that in 2016, 15 percent of consumers were hit by fraudulent bank account activity. However, 85 percent of banks and credit union customers said that they were happy with how their institutions handled the incidents. Ninety-two percent of customers felt secure conducting business online, against 98 percent who felt secure when conducting transactions at their local branch.
atmmarketplace

Stores Plan Pre-Black Friday Thanksgiving Time Out

Many brand-name stores are planning to be closed for Thanksgiving, in preparation for Black Friday. According to bestblackfriday.com, more than 60 major stores will be closed, including Barns & Noble, Marshalls, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Nordstrom. While closing the bricks-and-mortar stores saves money in advance of the holiday season, it also boosts employee morale, and doesn’t impact end of year sales because anyone wanting to shop during the Thanksgiving Weekend can shop on the stores’ online retail sites.
chicagotribune

Best Buy Offers Free Delivery through Christmas

To no one’s surprise Black Friday deals and sales are already being offered by some retail chains. Best Buy has jumped the gun on its sales ad by saying it is offering free shipping through Christmas, with no minimum purchase needed. Best Buy stores can also be used to pick up orders instead of home delivery, with some orders available in less than an hour. Best Buy’s same-day delivery service is also available in 40 US metro areas.
bgr.com 

Some Retailer Black Friday Deals Already Available

Black Friday may be more than three weeks away but that hasn’t stopped some major retailers from already beginning their Black Friday sales. Office Depot and eBay already have early deals, along with Target, which features its buy-two-get-one-free video game sale. In addition, Black Friday deals are also set to be available this week from Amazon, Dell and Walmart. Also, Sam’s Club is offering a one-day sale on November 11.
i4u.com