Thanksgiving Day Promotions Lure 35 Million Shoppers
WASHINGTON -- More than 35 million Americans visited retailers’ stores and websites Thanksgiving Day -- up from 29 million last year -- scoring deals on everything from electronic items to cashmere sweaters and toys, reports the National Retail Federation.
A survey conducted for the trade group by BIGinsight confirmed that store traffic and spending grew over the entire holiday weekend.
A record 247 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 226 million last year. The average holiday shopper spent $423 this weekend, up from $398 last year. Total spending reached an estimated $59.1 billion.
According to the survey 28% of weekend shoppers were at the stores by midnight Black Friday, compared to 24.4% last year. Consumers also spent more of their holiday budget online. The average person spent $172.42 online over the weekend, or approximately 40.7% of their total weekend spending, up from 37.8% last year, the survey found.
More than one-quarter (27.0%) of holiday shoppers said they shopped online on Thanksgiving Day, and nearly half (47.5%) on Black Friday, according to the survey.
Over their weekend shopping trips, looking for both “self-gifts” and gifts for others, nearly six in 10 (57.7%) bought clothing and clothing accessories, up from 51.4% last year. Gift buyers also bought toys (34.6%), books, CDs, DVDs,video games (39.8%), electronics (37.7%), and jewelry (15.2%). Nearly one-third (32.6%) of shoppers bought gift cards over the weekend, up nearly 10 percentage points from the 23.1% who did so last year last year.
More than half (53.5%) of shoppers visited department stores this weekend, up from 48.7% last year. Additionally, consumers shopped at discount stores (39.4%), clothing stores (29.0%), electronics stores (33.0%), grocery stores (21.7%), and drug stores (12.7%). Taking advantage of retailers’ special online deals over the weekend, 43.8% of shoppers visited retailers’ websites, up from 35.2% last year.
The survey, conducted Nov. 23-24 by BIGinsight, polled 4,005 consumers and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6%.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.