The lights are hung, the trees are up, and the holiday season is here. While this year was anything but ordinary, a look at some of the initial stats from the big Thanksgiving shopping weekend shows that more people are comfortable shopping in-person than in 2020, which is welcomed news for those of us in the retail real estate industry. In fact, stores saw 12+ million more in-person shoppers than last year, with shoppers citing several different reasons for the importance of visiting brick-and-mortar stores to do their holiday shopping.

Here’s our list of the 10 most important stats that everyone working in the retail real estate industry should know. So read on and get your notepad out so you can rattle some of these off to any of your relatives who say “retail is dying” 😉.

1. Foot traffic is up: Retailers saw an increase in foot traffic, with approximately 104.9 million shoppers visiting stores, up from 92.3 million in 2020. The overall number of online shoppers decreased to a total of 127.8 million from 145.4 million last year. (Source: ICSC Consumer shopping behavior data for Thanksgiving Weekend)

2. Average spend is down slightly: Thanksgiving weekend shoppers spent an average of $301.27 on holiday-related purchases such as gifts, décor, apparel and toys. This is down slightly from $311.75 in 2020. As in previous years, most ($215.40) of that amount was spent directly on gifts. (Source: NRF and Proper Insights & Analytics Thanksgiving Weekend 2021 Consumer Holiday Survey) 

3. They just have to see it in person!: 51% of shoppers cited seeing or touching merchandise as a primary motivation for visiting stores. (Source: ICSC Consumer shopping behavior data for Thanksgiving Weekend) 

4. Consumers prefer to shop in stores: 43% of shoppers mentioned a general preference for in-store shopping. (Source: ICSC Consumer shopping behavior data for Thanksgiving Weekend)

5. Supporting local businesses remains top of mind: Shoppers were motivated to support small business owners; 52% spent with small or locally owned community businesses. (Source: ICSC Consumer shopping behavior data for Thanksgiving Weekend)

6. Investments in digital technology paid off: 72% who purchased items online and picked them up in-store spent additional money at that store or at the same shopping center. (Source: ICSC Consumer shopping behavior data for Thanksgiving Weekend)

7. Black Friday dominates: Black Friday remained the most popular day for in-store shopping, with 66.5 million shoppers, followed by 51 million shoppers on Small Business Saturday. (Source: ICSC Consumer shopping behavior data for Thanksgiving Weekend)

8. Entertainment Resurges: More shoppers felt comfortable dining and enjoying entertainment than last year; 56% spent money on dining, personal services or entertainment over the weekend, an increase from 48% in 2020. (Source: ICSC Consumer shopping behavior data for Thanksgiving Weekend)

9. Total Average Spend almost tops $1000: Consumers plan to spend an average of $998 on items such as gifts, food, decorations, and other holiday-related purchases for themselves and their families. (Source: NRF and Proper Insights & Analytics Thanksgiving Weekend 2021 Consumer Holiday Survey)

10. It’s all about the gift cards: Gift cards were cited by shoppers as what they hope to receive the most (56% of consumers). (Source: NRF and Proper Insights & Analytics Thanksgiving Weekend 2021 Consumer Holiday Survey)

We hope this list was helpful for you! If you’re in retail, it’s a great time to promote the gift cards that are available for stores at your centers. If you’re interested in learning more about ramping up your prospecting efforts to find great local businesses that bring in foot-traffic, sign-up for a demo today and let’s chat! There’s no time like the present 🎁 !