More Than a Third of Americans Already Done with Holiday Shopping

More than a third of American shoppers are already finished with their holiday shopping, according to a new survey.

According to America's Research Group, about 32 percent of shoppers finished their holiday shopping in November; while an additional six percent said they finished in the first week of December. The survey interviewed 1,000 people from Dec. 3^rd through Dec. 4^th.

The numbers showcase the rising popularity of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping deals, which oftentimes offer extremely attractive prices to entice buyers to get their shopping done early.

Shoppers spent $52.4 billion during the Black Friday holiday weekend and an additional $6 billion during Cyber Week. Those numbers were likely a huge boon for some companies, but significantly raise the pressure for others that didn't cash in on the buying frenzy.

There is very little retailers can do unless they really have some incredible sales that force that consumer to reconsider if they want ... to make an extra purchase now, America's Research Group President Britt Beemer told Reuters.

Beemer believes that many made their big purchases on Black Friday weekend and that retailers have to offer incredible deals going forward, but one industry expert sees one effective way to create more frenzied buying.

Free shipping is one of the most important incentives that online retailers must provide during the holiday season to ensure that shoppers will convert into buyers, comScore chairman Gian Fulgoni said.

Consumers have come to expect free shipping during the holiday promotion periods, and retailers, in turn, have realized that they must offer this incentive if they want to maximize their share of consumer spending -- especially at the outset of the shopping season.

Marketing concepts like Free Shipping Day - which falls on Dec. 16^th this year - can be quite effective in creating big sales, even if a lot of shopping has already been done on Black Friday weekend.

They all are marketing events, Andrew Lipsman, comScore's vice president of industry analysis, told the International Business Times. But they tend to be pretty effective. I think it's pretty good marketing.