WASHINGTON – A record number of shoppers turned out in stores and online during the five-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend, according to figures released today by the National Retail Federation.
With roughly half of the year-end holiday shopping now completed, federation officials express confidence in their pre-season forecast that holiday spending in 2025 will surpass $1 trillion for the first time.
“This year’s record turnout reflects a highly engaged consumer who is focused on value, responds to compelling promotions, and seizes upon the opportunity to make the winter holidays special and meaningful,” said Matthew Shay, NRF’s president and chief executive officer.
Nearly 203 million consumers shopped during the five-day holiday weekend from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, according to the annual consumer survey released by the federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, which surveyed 3,099 adults between November 26 and November 30. This year’s record count surpassed the 197 million shoppers from last year and exceeds NRF’s initial projection of 186.9 million shoppers over the five days.
Retailers have worked creatively to limit price increases, Shay said on a media call to announce the findings. Inflation continues to be driven by rising prices for services, he said, while inflation on goods was "flat to down" for most of this year, though it has ticked modestly higher in the past few months.
In-store shopping increased 3% this year to 129.5 million consumers, according to the survey. Online shopping increased 9% to 134.9 million shoppers.
Despite modest year-on-year declines, Black Friday remained the top shopping day in-store and online, attracting 80.3 million in-store shoppers and 85.7 million online. Some of Black Friday’s traditional strength was siphoned by increased activity over the following weekend, Shay said. The data show significant jumps in online and in-store shopping on both Saturday and Sunday, with each day seeing double-digit increases in online shopping.
Cyber Monday continues to be the second-most popular day for online shopping, attracting 75.9 million shoppers, up from 64.4 million last year.
NRF and Prosper calculate that 46.9 million online shoppers browsed or bought on Cyber Monday using a mobile device. Nearly 44 million shopped from a desktop, laptop or tablet from home and another 7 million used one of the devices to shop from work.
The top shopping destinations during Thanksgiving weekend were supermarkets (47%) and online (45%). Other top destinations included department stores (40%), clothing stores (37%) and discount stores (30%).
Nearly all (96%) of those shopping over the weekend made a holiday-related purchase, spending $337.86 on average on items like gifts, holiday apparel, decorations and other seasonal purchases. This is up from $315.56 last year and is the highest figure since 2019’s record of $361.90.
Approximately 67% ($225.74) was spent on gifts. The top gifts purchased were clothing and accessories (51%), followed by toys (32%). Books and other media (28%) saw an increase from 22% last year and surpassed gift cards (26%) as the third-most popular gift purchased during the weekend.
As of the Thanksgiving weekend, 84% of consumers had begun their holiday shopping, according to Phil Rist, executive vice president of strategy at Prosper Analytics, who said that shoppers still have a little over half (53%) of their holiday shopping remaining.
NRF defines the holiday season as November 1 through December 3. The federation has forecast a spending increase of between 3.7% and 4.2% from the 2024 holiday season, with this year’s sales topping $1 trillion for the first time.
"We expect a record, notwithstanding what we hear about consumer confidence," Shay said. "There's a bit of a moat when it comes to consumer spending for the holidays."
