U.S. expected consumer spending by seasonal event 2017

This statistic depicts the expected annual consumer spending in the United States in 2017, by seasonal event. That year, the Easter season was expected to generate about 18.4 billion U.S. dollars in spending. Consumer holiday spendingIf you look on consumer spending throughout the year, it is easy to identify several peaks around seasonal events and holidays. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), the spring season contains Valentine's Day, Presidents Day, Easter, Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day, and Independence Day. In comparison, the fall season is home to Labor Day, Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Columbus Day, Halloween, Election Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, and Martin Luther King Day. The highest in-store traffic and consumer spending usually occurs during the holiday season starting November 1st until December 31st, especially on the 4-day Thanksgiving weekend plus Cyber Monday and the remaining Saturdays before Christmas. The NRF indicated that about one fifth of the annual retail sales stem from the entire holiday season occurring in November and December. In 2014, the seasonal traffic in brick-and-mortar stores peaked not on Black Friday, as most people would assume, but on the last Saturday before Christmas. Industry experts explained the fact that Black Friday didn’t continue to perform as the busiest shopping day with retailers’ stretching their deals and promotions across November and December. The shift in traffic has even gone so far that people started calling Thanksgiving Day ‘Gray Thursday’.

本统计数据描绘了2017年美国按季节性事件预期的年度消费者支出。当年，复活节季节预计将产生约184亿美元的支出。消费者节假日支出：若对全年消费者支出进行审视，不难发现围绕季节性事件和节日的几个支出高峰。根据美国全国零售联合会（National Retail Federation，简称NRF）的数据，春季包括情人节、总统日、复活节、母亲节、阵亡将士纪念日、父亲节和独立日。相较之下，秋季则包括劳动节、罗什哈沙纳节、赎罪日、哥伦布日、万圣节、选举日、退伍军人节、感恩节、圣诞节、新年和马丁·路德·金纪念日。通常，最高的人流和消费者支出发生在从11月1日至12月31日的节假日季节，尤其是在感恩节周末的4天以及网络星期一，以及圣诞节前剩余的周六。NRF指出，大约五分之一的年度零售销售额来自于11月和12月整个节假日季节。在2014年，实体店季节性人流量的高峰并非如大多数人所假设的那样出现在黑色星期五，而是在圣诞节前最后一个周六。行业专家解释了这一现象，即黑色星期五并未继续作为最繁忙的购物日表现，因为零售商将他们的优惠和促销活动延长至11月和12月。人流量转变甚至如此之大，以至于人们开始将感恩节称为‘灰色星期四’。