More North Carolinians will shop on Black Friday this year that last
Published November 22, 2018
High Point University Poll, November 21, 2018
A High Point University Poll found 31 percent of North Carolinians plan to shop on the Friday after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday. Fifty-nine percent polled said they will not shop on Black Friday this year.
According to the 2017 HPU Poll, 22 percent of people said they would shop on Black Friday, compared to the 75 percent who said they were not going to shop. More respondents (10 percent) said they weren’t sure if they were shopping on Black Friday this year, compared to the 3 percent who weren’t sure last year.
Still, 56 percent said they will do at least some holiday shopping in brick-and-mortar stores, and 74 percent will do at least some shopping online this year.
When North Carolinians do shop for the holidays, they are split as to whether they plan to do most of their shopping at brick-and-mortar stores (25 percent) or online (35 percent). An additional 25 percent of respondents say they will do both with equal frequency. The proportion of shoppers going online hasn’t changed must since last year, when 37 percent said they would do most of their shopping online, according to the HPU Poll in 2017.
“The percentage shopping on actual Black Friday has increased, but that does not necessarily mean they will spend less time with their family,” says Dr. Daniel Hall, chair and associate professor in HPU’s economics department. “Many Black Friday shoppers may do so online on the couch with their family. The percentage of respondents saying they will do most of their holiday shopping in brick-and-mortar stores decreased from 41 percent in the 2017 HPU Poll to 25 percent in this year’s poll.
Fifty-six percent say they’ll spend the same amount of money on the holidays this year compared to last year. One in five (20 percent) respondents say they will spend more than last year. When asked how much they plan to spend, the poll found that on average, respondents will spend $944 on gifts, food, decorations and other items related to the holidays.
More than half of North Carolinians (54 percent) say the holiday season does not make much difference in the stress in their lives, and 13 percent said that they experience less stress in their lives during the holidays. Stress levels among North Carolinians seems to be decreasing over the past few years as tracked by the HPU Poll. In a 2013 HPU Poll, 43 percent said the holidays bring more stress to their lives, and this most recent HPU Poll finds that less than one-third (31 percent) say that they will experience more stress in their lives during the holidays.
About one-third (36 percent) of poll participants say that they are more likely to give to charities during the holiday season, while almost half (48 percent) said that the holiday season does not make a difference either way in their charitable giving.
“About one-third of North Carolinians are telling us that they experience more stress during the holidays but are also more likely to give to a charity during the season,” says Brian McDonald, associate director of the HPU Poll and adjunct professor. “However, larger percentages say that the holidays do not make much difference in their stress level or charitable gifts.”
All adults – Friday After Thanksgiving (November 2018)
Now I would like to ask you some questions about holiday shopping this year.
As you may know, the Friday after Thanksgiving is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Looking ahead, do you personally plan on shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving, or not?
Yes – 31 percent
No – 59 percent
Don’t know – 10 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) phone and online sample, surveyed Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, 2018, n = 842 and credibility interval of +/- 4.1 percent)
All adults – Brick and Mortar Shopping (November 2018)
Do you plan to do any holiday shopping in brick-and-mortar stores this year?
Yes – 56 percent
No – 33 percent
Don’t know – 12 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) phone and online sample, surveyed Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, 2018, n = 842 and credibility interval of +/- 4.1 percent)
All adults – Online Shopping (November 2018)
Do you plan to do any holiday shopping online this year?
Yes – 74 percent
No – 18 percent
Don’t know – 9 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) phone and online sample, surveyed Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, 2018, n = 842 and credibility interval of +/- 4.1 percent)
All adults – Most Holiday Shopping (November 2018)
Do you plan to do most of your holiday shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores or online this year?
Bricks-and-mortar stores – 25 percent
Online – 35 percent
Both equally – 25 percent
Don’t know/refused – 16 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) phone and online sample, surveyed Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, 2018, n = 842 and credibility interval of +/- 4.1 percent)
All adults –Holiday Spending (November 2018)
Thinking ahead to the holiday season, how much do you think that you will spend this year on gifts, food, decorations and other items related to your celebration of the holidays?
Mean (average): $944*
*Calculated based on n=805 numeric responses.
(All adult (North Carolina resident) phone and online sample, surveyed Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, 2018, n = 842 and credibility interval of +/- 4.1 percent)
All adults –Holiday Spending (November 2018)
Do you think that you will spend more, less or about the same as last year on gifts, food, decorations and other items related to your celebration of the holidays?
More – 20 percent
Less – 20 percent
About the same – 56 percent
Don’t know/refused – 4 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) phone and online sample, surveyed Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, 2018, n = 842 and credibility interval of +/- 4.1 percent)
All adults –Holiday Stress (November 2018)
Generally speaking, do you think that you experience more stress in your life during the holiday season, less stress or does the season not make much difference either way?
More stress – 31 percent
Not much difference either way – 54 percent
Less stress – 13 percent
Don’t know/refused – 2 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) phone and online sample, surveyed Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, 2018, n = 842 and credibility interval of +/- 4.1 percent)
All adults –Holiday Stress (November 2018)
Thinking about your own giving to charity during the holiday season, would you say you are more willing to give to charity during the holiday season, less likely to give to charity, or does the holiday season not make a difference one way or the other?
More likely to give – 36 percent
Less likely to give – 9 percent
Does not make much difference either way – 48 percent
Don’t know/refused – 7 percent
(All adult (North Carolina resident) phone and online sample, surveyed Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, 2018, n = 842 and credibility interval of +/- 4.1 percent)
The most recent HPU Poll was fielded by live interviewers at the High Point University Survey Research Center calling on Oct. 26-Nov. 1, 2018 and an online survey fielded at the same time. The responses from a sample of all North Carolina counties came from a total of 842 adults who were either interviewed online (285 respondents) and landline or cellular telephones (557 respondents). The Survey Research Center contracted with Survey Sampling International to acquire these samples, and fielded the online survey using its Qualtrics platform. This is a combined sample of live phone interviews and online interviews. The online sampling is from a panel of respondents, so their participation does not adhere to usual assumptions associated with random selection. Therefore, it is not appropriate to assign a classical margin of sampling error for the results. In this case, the SRC provides a credibility interval of plus or minus 4.1 percentage points to account for a traditional 95 percent confidence interval for the estimates (plus or minus 3.4 percentage points) and a design effect of 1.2 (based on the weighting). The data is weighted toward population estimates for age, gender, race, and education level based on U.S. Census numbers for North Carolina. Factors such as question wording and other methodological choices in conducting survey research can introduce additional error into the findings of opinion polls. Details from this survey are available at http://www.highpoint.edu/src/files/2018/11/62memoA.pdf.
