Black Friday saw enthusiastic purchase

Thanksgiving weekend this year will see over 154 million consumers buying, up from 151 million shoppers in 2015, according to the annual Thanksgiving weekend results survey released today by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. Retailers are keeping up with their efforts in offering strong deals and promotions, which encouraged more consumers to shop over the holiday weekend.

“It was a strong weekend for retailers, but an even better weekend for consumers, who took advantage of some really incredible deals,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “In fact, over one third of shoppers said 100% of their purchases were on sale.”

The average spending per person over Thanksgiving weekend totalled $289.19, down slightly from $299.60* last year. Around 74 percent of total purchases were for gifts and valued an average of $214.13.

The survey found that 44 percent consumers shopped online and 40 percent shopped in-store. Black Friday was the most popular day to shop online with a 1.3 percent rise to 74 percent, while 75 percent in-store shoppers also chose to chop on Black Friday, up 3.4 percent from last year.

“Millennials are keeping retailers on their toes when it comes to Thanksgiving weekend shopping not just for their friends and family, but also themselves,” Prosper’s Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow said. “However, Millennials are not the only ones taking advantage of great promotions, today’s consumers, across ages, are savvy about when and where they shop.”

The survey found that of those that shopped in store, 51 percent shopped at department stores, 28 percent shopped at clothing or accessories stores. Some of the most popular gifts purchased over the weekend included clothing or clothing accessories (50 percent), gift cards (20 percent) among others.