This Year’s Thanksgiving Holiday – A Spending Success, Says NRF

The following article contains excerpts from a press release, “Consumers and Retailers Win Big Over Thanksgiving Holiday,” issued on November 28, 2017 by the National Retail Federation.

November 28, 2017 | From Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, more than 174 million Americans shopped in stores and online during the just-concluded holiday weekend, beating the 164 million estimated shoppers from an earlier survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights and Analytics.

Average spending per person over the five-day period was $335.47, with $250.78 – 75 percent – specifically going toward gifts. The biggest spenders were older millennials (25 to 34 years old) at $419.52.

“All the fundamentals were in place for consumers to take advantage of incredible deals and promotions retailers had to offer,” says Matthew Shay, NRF’s president and CEO in a press release. “From good weather across the country to low unemployment and strong consumer confidence, the climate was right, literally and figuratively, for consumers to tackle their holiday shopping lists online and in stores.”

Retailers’ investments technology paid off with consumers seamlessly shopping on all platforms through the long weekend. The survey found that over 64 million shopped both online or in stores. In addition, over 58 million shopped online only, and over 51 million shopped in stores only. The multichannel shopper spent $82 more on average than the online-only shopper, and $49 more on average than the in-store shopper.

The most popular day for in-store shopping was Black Friday, cited by 77 million consumers, followed by Small Business Saturday with 55 million consumers. The top two days that consumers shopped online were Cyber Monday with more than 81 million and Black Friday with more than 66 million. In addition, 63 percent of smartphone owners used their mobile devices to make holiday decisions, and 29 percent used their phones to make actual purchases.

Top shopping destinations included department stores (43 percent), online retailers (42 percent), electronic stores (32 percent), clothing and accessories stores (31 percent), and discount stores (also 31 percent). Some of the most popular gifts purchased included clothing or accessories (58 percent), toys (38 percent), books and other media (31 percent), electronics (30 percent), and gift cards (23 percent).

The retail trade association’s survey, which asked 3,242 consumers about Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday shopping plans, was conducted between November 25 and 26.