Opinions on extended Thanksgiving Day shopping hours vary by age

CINCINNATI – The latest LoyaltyOne research shows there are three kinds of American Thanksgiving Day shoppers:

• 50% who say all-day shopping hours on Thanksgiving Day are a bad idea that detracts from the traditional celebration
• 33% who say stores being open all day Thanksgiving is a great idea that provides more time for holiday gift shopping
• 17% who can’t make up their mind.

In the all-important Millennial demographic (ages 18-34), attitudes about stores being open all day on Thanksgiving shift dramatically compared to the general population (ages 18-55+). No less than 50% of consumers age 18-24 say all-day shopping on Thanksgiving is a great idea. That support dropped only slightly to 48% in the 25-34 year-old age group.

Iconic retailer Macy’s plans to launch Black Friday shopping at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving evening, down from 8 p.m. last year, and from midnight in 2011. Other leading retailers are following suit and even one-upping in the case of JCPenney’s 5 p.m. opening. Against this backdrop, LoyaltyOne, which provides loyalty marketing services and customer analytics, obtained opinions on extended Thanksgiving Day shopping hours from 1,001 U.S. consumers in a nationwide survey taken in October 2014.The consumer views provide a window into the likelihood that all day holiday shopping on Thanksgiving Day will become a reality.

Some other key findings from the research based on various consumer segments include:
• 37% of men say being open all day on Thanksgiving is a great idea, compared with 29% of women
• 16% of consumers age 55 and older say that open all day on Thanksgiving is a great idea
• 40% of consumers in the South say all-day store hours on Thanksgiving is a great idea, compared with 32% in the West, 29% in the Midwest and 26% in the Northeast.

LoyaltyOne’s nationwide survey of 1001 U.S. consumers on extended Thanksgiving Day shopping hours has a margin of error, which measures sampling variability of +/- 2.6 at the 90% confidence level.