Consumers evoke enthusiasm over Thanksgiving Weekend shopping: NRF

Shoppers have shown enthusiasm in looking for good in-store and online deals during the Thanksgiving weekend, is what National Retail Federation’s (NRF) Thanksgiving Weekend Survey conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, notes. The survey states that more than 151 million people mentioned having shopped either in stores and/or online in comparison to 136 million people who in a mid-November survey expressed intent to shop over the weekend.

Nearly one-third (32.5 percent) shoppers said all of their purchases over the weekend were specifically driven by sales and promotions.

Nearly 102 million people said they shopped in stores over the Thanksgiving weekend, and more than 103 million said they shopped online. “We recognize the Thanksgiving weekend shopping experience is much different than it used to be as just as many people want that unique, exclusive online deal as they do that in-store promotion,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

The average spending per person was $299.60, with an average of $229.56 specifically going towards gifts, or 76.6 percent of total purchases. Additionally, as of November 28, 77.6 percent of those polled said they had at least started their holiday shopping.

NRF’s 2015 Thanksgiving weekend survey, including the spending amount has not been compared to the previous year as the methodology has changed. “As the shopping environment changes so too must our analysis of it,” continued Shay.

Around 72.8 percent – 74.2 million of in-store shoppers shopped on Black Friday, some 34.6 million (34 percent) shopped on Thanksgiving Day and 46.8 million (45.9 percent) shopped on Saturday. Among digital bargain hunters, the survey found 41 million people (39.8 percent) shopped on Thanksgiving Day and 75.3 million (73.1 percent) on Black Friday.

The survey further noted that those under 35 were most likely to shop over the weekend. Also, seven in 10 (72.6 percent) shoppers gave retailers either an “A” or a “B” in terms of how they felt about the promotions over the weekend.

Prosper’s Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow mentioned that though holiday shopping began before Thanksgiving weekend, ‘people were still incredibly eager to get their hands on the deals that retailers were offering’. He further noted that, “Millennials have changed the game when it comes to Thanksgiving weekend shopping, making sure they were out early and often over the entire weekend in order to tackle their gift lists as well as their self-gifting lists.”