Will You Be One of 152 Million, Muskego?

A survey by the National Retail Federation revealed that 152 million shoppers plan on joining in the post-turkey day melee. These results come in spite of apparent attempts by retailers to start the party early, with many offering deep discounts already this past weekend.

The number is higher than the 138 million people who planned to do so last year. In addition, 74 million people responded that they will 'definitely' join in the frenzy; another 77 million said they would wait to see if the bargains are worth battling crowded stores and standing for hours in the cold.

“Though many retailers are already touting select Black Friday ads, there’s no doubt we’ll all be blown away by what retailers still have in their bag of tricks for shoppers,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “We fully expect to see excited shoppers as early as midnight at stores around the country, as many holiday shoppers would rather stay up all night to take advantage of retailers’ Black Friday deals rather than set their alarm to wake up the next morning.”  

Locally,will open its doors at midnight, while has ventured into Thanksgiving Day, opening at 10pm.

The NRF also asked shoppers how they plan to keep track of retailers’ holiday sales and promotions. Half (50.5%) said they were sticking with the conventional print ads throughout the holiday season; nearly one-third (31.7%) said they will tune in to TV commercials; nearly one-quarter (23.1%) will mine coupon websites like RetailMeNot.com and FatWallet.com; and 32.3 percent will track the email coupons they receive from retailers.

The NRF report also showed increased traffic to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter by customers looking for special savings announcements.