Why Macy’s is Opening on Thanksgiving

It's good old competition and serving customers when they want to shop! MarketWatch explains:

It used to be the only consumption that took place on Thanksgiving happened around the dinner table. But with Macy’s announcement Monday that it will be opening some stores at 8 p.m. on the holiday (following the retail trail blazed by Wal-Mart  and Target)  it’s clear that Turkey Day is now just another shopping day.

But don’t blame the stores for elbowing in on family time, analysts say: They may be responding to the fact that Thanksgiving is one of the fastest-growing shopping days — online. According to data from comScore, online spending on Thanksgiving Day increased 32% from 2011 to 2012 (and over the past five years has increased 132%). Meanwhile Black Friday online spending increased just 28% over last year and 96% over the past five years and Cyber Monday spending increased 17% over last year and 100% over five years. “Thanksgiving has become a marquee day for online shopping,” says Keith Mercier, associate partner with IBM’s Retail Center of Competence.