Nevada retailers on a roll for holidays ahead

A robust Thanksgiving weekend for retailers portends a solid holiday shopping season ahead, a report shows.

The Retail Association of Nevada said Nevada consumers spent more than $531 million over the long Thanksgiving weekend followed by Cyber Monday.

And nationwide, the average American consumer spent more than $250 on gifts, according to survey data.

Add in the current economic prosperity, including low unemployment, and a busy holiday season ahead is expected.

“Consumer confidence is high, jobs are plentiful and wages are rising, creating the ideal environment for a strong holiday shopping season in the Silver State,” Bryan Wachter, senior vice president of RAN, said in a statement accompanying the report.

In all, RAN is forecasting holiday-related shopping sales statewide this year to grow by 4 percent and top $4 billion.

That compares with predictions by the National Retail Federation of nationwide holiday sales to increase between 3.6 percent and 4 percent.

During the Thanksgiving shopping period, Nevadans took advantage of the competitive retail environment to find deals at both traditional bricks-and-mortar and online retailers, the NRF reported.

An estimated 586,100 people used both methods to shop, while 467,100 shopped only in-store and 531,200 shopped only online. Shoppers who used both in-store and online channels spent $82 more than the average online-only shopper and $49 more than the average in-store shopper, according to the NRF.

Black Friday was the most-popular shopping day for in-store shoppers (66.6 percent), followed by Saturday (47.4 percent) and Thanksgiving Day (29.6 percent). For online shoppers, Cyber Monday was most popular (66.0 percent), followed by Black Friday (53.8 percent) and Saturday (38.7 percent), according to the NRF.

Online sales continue to play a growing role in American shopping habits during the holiday season. According to an analysis by Adobe Digital Insights, online sales in the U.S. reached nearly $20 billion during the Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday, a 15.2 percent increase over a year ago. That total included $5.0 billion on Black Friday and $6.6 billion on Cyber Monday, which was the largest online shopping day in history. Total online sales in November climbed 16.8 percent compared to a year ago to reach $50 billion, prompting Adobe Digital Insights to project online sales this holiday season to break $100 billion for the first time.

Nevada’s nonstore retail sales, which include online retailers, are at record highs. In the 12 months through August, nonstore retail sales totaled more than $1.2 billion, a 21.6 percent year-over-year increase.

Based on recent trends, RAN estimates that total nonstore retail sales this holiday season could approach $300 million, surpassing last year’s total of $269.9 million.