NRF: Record number of consumers to hit stores Thanksgiving weekend
The upcoming five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend is expected to attract a record level of shoppers — and they are setting aside Black Friday and Cyber Monday as their top shopping days.
There are 186.9 million people planning to shop in-store and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday this year, according to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. This is a jump of 3 million total shoppers compared to 2024’s 183.4 million consumers.
While gift-givers will spread their shopping across channels throughout the five-day holiday weekend, Black Friday remains the most popular day to shop, with 70% of shoppers (130.4 million) getting a jump on their holiday shopping. Cyber Monday is the second most popular day with 40% (73.9 million) of consumers planning to shop.
“Many Americans consider shopping to be an important part of their Thanksgiving holiday and one of the best ways to get deals on gifts,” Prosper Insights & Analytics executive VP of strategy Phil Rist said. “Of those planning to take advantage of sales, over half say it’s because the deals are too good to pass up. Others point to the tradition or simply say they like to start their holiday shopping during the long weekend.”
Eager to get off to an even earlier start, a little more than half of shoppers (58%) said they started their holiday shopping in early November — this is in line with the last five years. On average, holiday shoppers already completed around one-quarter (26%) of their planned purchases.
Early bird shoppers are contributing to what could be a new record for U.S. holiday sales amid higher prices and resilient consumers. Retail sales between November and December will grow between 3.7% and 4.2% over 2024. This translates to total spending between $1.01 trillion and $1.02 trillion, according to the National Retail Federation’s annual holiday forecast. By comparison, holiday sales last year rose 4.3% over 2023 to $976.1 billion. (NRF’s forecast excludes auto dealers, gas stations and restaurants.)
The survey asked 8,000 adult consumers about their holiday shopping plans. It was conducted Oct. 31-Nov. 6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
