Fewer Consumers Shopped Over Thanksgiving Weekend, NRF Says

Washington—More than 165 million Americans shopped in stores or online during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, according to the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

Prosper Insights performed a survey on behalf of the NRF, asking 3,058 consumers about Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday shopping plans on Nov. 24 and 25.

While the final shopper turnout figure is more than the 164 million predicted in the NRF pre-holiday survey, it is a 5 percent decrease when compared with last year.

The NRF speculated that with more days to shop before Christmas this year, consumers were not feeling the need to spend money over Thanksgiving weekend and are taking their time.

Additionally, according to insights released by ShopperTrak, visits to brick-and-mortar retail stores and shopping centers were down 1 percent in the combined two-day period of Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday when compared with last year. On Black Friday specifically, foot traffic was down 1.7 percent.

ShopperTrak said this slight traffic variance is consistent with results over the past few years.

When it came to how much shoppers were spending, the NRF’s survey shows that the average shopper spent $313.29 on gifts and other holiday items over the five-day span from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, 69 percent of which went specifically to gifts.

The biggest spenders were older millennials (those in their early 30s) and Generation Xers who are 35 to 44 at $413.05.

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Additionally, a new trend popped up among younger consumers.

Members of the Gen Z demographic and younger millennials spent an average of $149 on gifts for themselves—more than any other generation.

Consumers also increasingly were shopping omnichannel, with more than 89 million people indicating they shopped both online and in stores, a nearly 40 percent increase from last year. What’s more, the “multichannel shopper,” as the NRF identified them, outspent the single-channel shopper by an average of $93.

Top purchases over the weekend included apparel (57 percent), toys (34 percent), books and video games (29 percent), electronics (26 percent) and gift cards (20 percent).

Not surprisingly, the most popular day to shop online was Cyber Monday, as indicated by 67.4 million shoppers, followed by Black Friday with 65.2 million shoppers.

The most popular day for in-store shopping was Black Friday with more than 67 million shoppers, followed by Small Business Saturday with 47.4 million shoppers.

Top shopping destinations during the