According to the latest data from the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics a record 186.9m people are planning to shop from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year.
The survey, which was conducted on 31 October to 6 November, asked 8,000 adult consumers about their holiday shopping plans.
“The holidays are an important part of many consumers’ budgets, and that trend is especially true this season,” NRF vice president of industry and consumer insights Katherine Cullen said. “As a record number of shoppers are expected this Thanksgiving weekend, retailers are prepared to meet the needs of consumers with great value and convenience.”
While promotions will span the entire five-day holiday weekend, Black Friday remains the most popular day to shop, with 70% of shoppers (130.4m). The second most popular day remains Cyber Monday, with 40% (73.9m) of consumers expected to shop the Monday following Thanksgiving. Of the 36% (67m) of potential Saturday shoppers, 80% say they are considering shopping in order to support local businesses and Small Business Saturday.
“Many Americans consider shopping to be an important part of their Thanksgiving holiday and one of the best ways to get deals on gifts,” Prosper Insights & Analytics EVP of strategy Phil Rist said. “Of those planning to take advantage of sales, over half say it’s because the deals are too good to pass up. Others point to the tradition or simply say they like to start their holiday shopping during the long weekend.”
As of early November, 58% of consumers said they have already started their holiday shopping, in line with the last five years. On average, holiday shoppers have completed around one-quarter (26%) of their planned purchases.
The top items consumers plan to gift are clothing and accessories (50%), gift cards (43%) and toys (32%). The leading sources of inspiration continue to be online search (41%), friends and family (35%), within a retail store (28%) and wish lists (23%).
