Yes, here’s another post about shopping amidst the pandemic. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to escape it. But we all still want to buy nice holiday gifts for our family and friends.

I did some online shopping last weekend and found some good deals.

Did you take advantage of Black Friday or Cyber Monday sales? If so, let us know about your shopping experiences – either online or in person – by leaving a note in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

Hitting The Stores – Online And Physical

According to the National Retail Federation, an estimated 186.4 million consumers took advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and shopped in-store and online this year.

Black Friday and Saturday saw tremendous growth in online activity, according to the NRF. For the first time, the number of online Black Friday shoppers passed the 100 million mark.

Over the five-day period (Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday), shoppers spent an average of $311.75 on holiday-related purchases such as gifts or decorations, down from last year’s total of $361.90 but comparable to 2018’s $313.29. Of that amount, nearly three-quarters ($224.48) was spent directly on gifts, according to the NRF.

NRF defines the holiday season as November 1 through December 31 and has forecast that sales will increase between 3.6% and 5.2% over 2019 to a total between $755.3 billion and $766.7 billion. Over the 2020 holiday season, NRF expects that online and other non-store sales, which are included in the total, will increase between 20% and 30%. In total consumers plan to spend $997.79 on gifts, holiday items and additional “non-gift” purchases for themselves and their families this year.

Recording Your Holiday Shopping Purchases!

Whatever and wherever you purchase a holiday gift, please remember to record the purchase.

For tips on how to record your online purchases, please see

Going Online Shopping?

Thanks, and have a great weekend!

Best Regards,
Taylor

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