Holiday Spending Up Versus 2015; Rakuten Marketing Reports Solid Retail Sales Growth

SAN MATEO, Calif., Nov. 26, 2016

• Black Friday online shopping is spreading earlier into the week, as Wednesday revenue surpassed 'Thanksgiving Eve' 2015 revenue by 37 percent for same-store retail clients.
• Thanksgiving Day continues to grow as a popular day for consumers, with spending up 14 percent over 2015 and outperforming Black Friday by 2-times.
• Online spending for Black Friday spiked 41 percent relative to the same period in 2015.
• Mobile sites received 56 percent of retail traffic across Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

"As consumers are growing more and more comfortable shopping on their phones and tablets, the timetable is opening up for brands to reach them during the holiday shopping season," said Tony Zito, CEO, Rakuten Marketing. "Our data has shown that most shoppers who buy something between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday start shopping six days earlier, and almost half will check a coupon or cashback site to make sure they leverage any last-minute deals."

Other Rakuten Marketing retail data highlights include:

• Overall, retail shopping spiked earlier in November this year, the 13-14 (10-11 days before Thanksgiving), versus November 21-22 in 2015 (4-5 days before Thanksgiving).
• Friday at 2 p.m. ET has marked the weekend's peak hour for retail sales, so far vs. 12:00 am on Black Friday 2015.

"The shifting timeframe of the holiday retail season is indicative of a wider trend that shows consumers are moving to mobile," continued Zito. "Shoppers, who are able to browse deals from their homes and get retail alerts on-the-go throughout November, aren't limited to the traditional midnight line outside of shopping malls. We're excited to see how these trends will affect Cyber Monday activity and predict that sales will continue to increase."

About Rakuten Marketing
Rakuten Marketing's industry leading solutions empower marketers to thrive in their evolved role and achieve the full potential of digital marketing, efficiently and effectively, with data-informed insights that create consistent, engaging and influential experiences across screens. Offering an integrated solution, along with unique insights and consultative partnerships, Rakuten Marketing delivers the tools that marketers need to increase efficiency, productivity and performance.  Rakuten Marketing is a division of Rakuten Inc. (4755: TOKYO), one of the world's leading Internet service companies. The company is headquartered in San Mateo, California, with offices in Australia, Brazil, Japan, the United Kingdom, and throughout the United States. Follow us on Twitter or learn more at http://rakutenmarketing.com.