Over 166 million Americans are expected to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), as consumers shake off inflation worries in search of holiday deals.
This figure is almost 8 million more people participating in the weekend "Black Friday" sales event than last year and is the highest estimate since NRF began tracking this data in 2017.
"While there is much speculation about inflation's impact on consumer behavior, our data tells us that this Thanksgiving holiday weekend will see robust store traffic with a record number of shoppers taking advantage of value pricing," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a statement. "We are optimistic that retail sales will remain strong in the weeks ahead."
According to the NRF survey, 59% of shoppers say they are looking for deals too good to pass up this year. And they might just get their wish this year, as the markdowns are expected to be steeper, according to multiple sector Chief Financial Officers' statements during their respective recent earnings calls, the Wall Street Journal reports.
"We're just prepared to compete when the consumer is ready to shop," Gap
Some CFOs like like Macy's
As the retail sector enters one of its biggest shopping periods of the year, exchange-traded funds (ETF) expected to benefit include SPDR S&P Retail ETF