Retail Ad Spending To Drop This Holiday Season As Shoppers Shift Online

The pandemic has accelerated many consumer and advertising trends including holiday shopping. This year’s holiday shopping season, a critical time for many retailers, will look very different. The pandemic has minimized the importance of Black Friday, doorbuster sales and Cyber Monday, replaced by a longer holiday season begun in mid-October with Amazon Prime Day. In addition, this holiday season e-commerce sales are expected to increase substantially as in-store shoppers practice social distancing. Retail is an important category to the advertising and media industries. According to MAGNA, in 2019, retail accounted for 13% of all ad dollars, more than any other product category. Since so many rely on local advertising, retail accounted for only 8% of national TV dollars. Read more at Forbes.