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WASHINGTON — More than 200 million consumers were in stores or shopping online between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), citing the record turnout in reiterating its forecast of spending growth in the range of 3% to 4% over the final two months of the year.
“We had a very big weekend; a record-setter,” Matthew Shay, NRF’s president and CEO, said on a media call. Shay attributed the turnout — which exceeded NRF’s pre-weekend forecast of 182 million shoppers over the five-day period — to how consumers are feeling about their finances and the economy as well as the deals retailers were offering.
About 95% of shoppers made a purchase over the Thanksgiving weekend, he said, with an average of $321 spent on what NRF considers “core holiday” categories, including clothing and accessories, toys, gift cards and video games. For the first time, Shay said, personal care and beauty items appeared this year among the five most popular categories in terms of Thanksgiving weekend sales. The top destinations were online (44%), grocery stores and supermarkets (42%), department stores (40%), clothing and accessories stores (36%), and electronics stores (29%), according to Phil Rist, executive vice president at Prosper Insights & Analytics, which surveys shoppers on behalf of NRF.
