News

From Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, more than 165 million Americans shopped either in stores or online, surpassing the 164 million who had said they would shop in a consumer sentiment survey conducted ahead of the holiday, the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics reported.

The average shopper spent $313.29 on gifts and other holiday items over the five-day period, down from $335.47 during the same period last year. Of the total, $217.37 or 69 percent was specifically spent on gifts. The biggest spenders were older millennials and Gen Xers (35-44 years old) at $413.05.

Retailers’ investments in technology continued to pay off with consumers seamlessly shopping on all platforms throughout the weekend. The survey found more than 89 million people shopped both online and in stores, up nearly 40 percent from last year. The multichannel shopper outspent the single-channel shopper by up to $93 on average.

“This year, Gen Zers and millennials changed the way they shopped over Thanksgiving weekend,” Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist said. “These younger shoppers have become savvier when it comes to their research by leveraging social media to find inspiration for their purchasing decisions and used the holiday weekend to splurge on non-gift purchases for the season.”

The most popular day to shop online was Cyber Monday, cited by 67.4 million shoppers, followed by Black Friday with 65.2 million shoppers. The most popular day for in-store shopping was Black Friday with more than 67 million shoppers, followed by Small Business Saturday with 47.4 million shoppers. Also, 66 percent of smartphone owners used their mobile devices to make holiday decisions, up from 63 percent last year.

The survey, which asked 3,058 consumers about Thanksgiving weekend and Cyber Monday shopping plans, was conducted November 24-25 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.