Thanksgiving Weekend multichannel shopping up almost 40% over last year
Here’s how much average shopper spent on Thanksgiving Weekend. Source: shutterstock.com
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% 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% from last year. The multichannel shopper outspent the single-channel shopper by up to $93 on average.
Spending estimates from various groups have indicated that Thanksgiving weekend was record-breaking for the retail industry, consistent with NRF’s holiday forecast of up to a 4.8% increase in holiday spending over the months of November and December. In addition, purchases over the long weekend showed new trends coming from younger consumers, with Gen Zers and younger millennials aged 18-24 spending an average $149 on holiday purchases for themselves, more than any other generation.
Clothing came in as one of the top purchases, with 57% of those surveyed claiming they had purchased apparel. Toys and video games weighed in at 34% and 29% respectively. That comes as no surprise since Nintendo has debuted a number of new gaming systems and upgrades according to The Old School Game Vault. Electronics as a whole was purchased by 26% of all those surveyed. Lastly, 20% of those surveyed purchased gift cards.
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.
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