Surpassing all expectations, consumers turned up in record numbers for this year’s Black Friday weekend, the traditional kickoff to the holiday shopping season in the United States. The five-day weekend, from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, saw more than 200 million U.S. shoppers, topping last year’s record of nearly 197 million. Moreover, while physical retail shopping was up 1.5% year over year, the real star of the weekend was eCommerce, which hit a record $38 billion for the five-day period, up 7.8% year over year.
Shopping with small businesses resonated powerfully with consumers, who reported spending an estimated $17 billion on Small Business Saturday this year. The day, which falls between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, encourages shopping specifically at small and independent retailers and restaurants in the interest of helping them achieve financial confidence. According to the American Express 2023 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, 59% of U.S. consumers who knew about the day shopped or ate at small retailers or eateries on Small Business Saturday 2023.
The “B2B and Digital Payments Tracker®,” a collaboration with American Express, explores how digital payments technology is proving essential to seizing the season for SMBs as both eCommerce and “shopping small” hit their stride with consumers this year.
A new survey of consumer shopping trends in Q4 2023 finds that consumer interest in shopping small for the holidays is on the rise. According to the survey, the portion of consumers aiming to tap small and local businesses as much as possible for their holiday shopping has doubled this year, rising to 20% from 10% one year ago.
Other consumer research pegs the popularity of local and small businesses at even higher figures, however. According to a recent YouGov survey, nearly three-quarters of consumers said they plan to shop with small businesses online or in person over the holidays, up from 65% last year.
For more on these and other stories, visit the Tracker’s News and Trends section.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year — but it’s also the most crucial one for small businesses. The surge of holiday shopping this year presents a significant opportunity for SMBs to gain ground, but first and foremost, this season’s digital boom makes an online presence critical for small businesses. To get the insider POV, PYMNTS Intelligence spoke with Christina Wagner, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Transformation at Worldpay from FIS, to learn how small businesses can implement a unified shopping experience through omnicommerce to position themselves for success.
Against a backdrop of economic uncertainty, this year’s holiday shopping season has gotten off to a triumphant start, and a confluence of factors is signaling strong potential gains for small businesses. At the intersection of two growing trends — buying online and shopping small — lies a digital payments opportunity for SMBs that is too important to be missed. To learn more about how small businesses can unlock this treasure trove by embracing and leveraging new payments technology, read the Tracker’s PYMNTS Intelligence.
The “B2B and Digital Payments Tracker®,” a collaboration with American Express, explores how digital payments technology is proving essential to seizing the season for SMBs as both eCommerce and “shopping small” hit their stride with consumers this year.
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