An estimated 186.4 million consumers took advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and shopped both in-store and online this year, according to an annual survey released on December 1 by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

While the overall number of shoppers from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday dropped slightly from 189.6 million in an unusually robust 2019, this figure is still significantly higher than the 165.8 million shoppers in 2018.

  • Between Black Friday through Small Business Saturday saw tremendous growth in online activity.
  • For the first time, the number of online Black Friday shoppers passed the 100 million mark, up 8 percent over last year.
  • The number of online Saturday shoppers, typically associated with small business shoppers grew even more, up 17 percent compared with last year.
  • Online-only shoppers increased by 44 percent for the entire weekend, for a total of 95.7 million.

38% | Percenage of shoppers who aid they checked off holiday purchases in the week leading up to Thanksgiving.

52% | Percentage of holiday shoppers who said they took advantage of early holiday sales and promotions this year.

53% | Shoppers who say that promotions over the weekend were the same as they had been earlier in the season.

Thanksgiving in-store shopping was down given both the state of the pandemic as well as the number of retailers who opted to close on Thanksgiving Day, according to the NRF.

With consumer traffic moving to online channels, the number of in-store shoppers on Thanksgiving Day dropped by 55 percent from last year.


Black Friday dropped by 37%

An earlier NRF survey found that 70 percent of holiday shoppers say they feel safe shopping in stores this holiday season given the precautions retailers have taken for COVID-19.

Over the five-day period, shoppers spent an average of $311.75 on holiday-related purchases such as gifts or decorations, down from last year’s total of $361.90 but comparable to 2018’s $313.29.

Of that amount, nearly three-quarters ($224.48) was spent directly on gifts.

51% | Shoppers said they were more interested in holiday decorations and seasonal items.

77% | Percentage of shoppers who indicated they were more interested in supporting small businesses this year.


“The growth in online activity this year was significant, particularly for Black Friday and Saturday shoppers,” Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist said.“With the start to the holiday shopping season continuing to move up even earlier, consumers will further utilize these channels.”

Top gift purchases over the weekend included

52% | Clothing
32% | Toys
32% | Books, music, movies, video games
29% | Gift cards, certificates
27% | Electronics

Shopping destinations

39% | Grocery stores
33% | Clothing stores
31% | Electronics stores


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