Holiday Shopping is Trending Earlier: Nielsen

Nielsen (New York) has released its annual holiday shopping data, citing a projected increase in Thanksgiving evening and Black Friday sales, with a slight decrease in Cyber Monday spending.

The company reports that consumers, overall, will be doing their shopping earlier than in years past. Thanksgiving evening, alone, is forecast to see a 10 percent bump from last year, with 49 percent of shoppers estimated to do their holiday shopping either online or in person; and Black Friday is projected to see a rise of 7 percent compared to 2016, at 61 percent, placing it dead-even with estimated Cyber Monday 2017 sales.

Cyber Monday has remained mostly consistent over the past couple years, though is estimated to experience a 2 percent drop from 2016.

The data analytics company points to the convenience of e-commerce, coupled with timely discounts, as driving the popularity of early holiday spending, and reported that just over a quarter of shoppers began shopping for gifts as early as September.