200m Americans went shopping over Thanksgiving holiday weekend
Business
The top presents shoppers bought were toys and gift cards
(Web Desk) - A record 200.4 million consumers went shopping over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, surpassing industry expectations by more than 18 million shoppers and last year's then-record of 196.7 million.
The National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics released Tuesday the results of their annual survey of American consumers who shopped over the five-day weekend.
This year, the groups surveyed 3,498 adult consumers from Nov. 22 to Nov. 26.
The results echo the trade group's earlier projection that retail sales during November and December would grow between 3% and 4% over 2022's level, and hit a record of at least $957.3 billion — despite more cautious spending from shoppers amid inflation.
Last year’s holiday sales rose 5.4% over 2021's level to $929.5 billion.
“The five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday represents some of the busiest shopping days of the year and reflects the continued resilience of consumers and strength of the economy,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said in a press release.
“Shoppers exceeded our expectations with a robust turnout."
Consumers spent $12.4 billion online on Cyber Monday alone, according to data published by Adobe Analytics.
Black Friday, on Nov. 24, continued its reign as the busiest day of the year for shoppers, both in-person and online, according to the NRF survey.
About 76.2 million consumers visited brick-and-mortar locations on that day, up from 72.9 million in 2022. The second-busiest day for in-person shopping was Saturday, Nov. 25, with 59 million consumers.
For online shoppers, Black Friday was also the busiest day, with roughly 90.6 million consumers, up from 87.2 million in 2022.
Cyber Monday was the second most popular day for online shopping, with 73 million consumers.
The majority of shoppers this past weekend, or 95%, made holiday-related purchases, spending $321.41 on average. About 70% of that total, or $226.55, went toward gifts.
The top presents bought over the weekend — purchased by 49% of those surveyed — were toys at 31%, gift cards (25%), books, video games and other media (23%) and personal care or beauty items (23%).
