The latest annual survey by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics indicates that approximately 197 million shoppers participated in the five-day shopping period from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday.

This number ranks as the second highest recorded in the survey’s history, following last year’s peak of 200.4 million. It also exceeds NRF’s initial projection of a record-breaking 183.4 million shoppers, both in-store and online. 

The survey gathered responses from 3,055 adult consumers between 27 November and 1 December, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. 

During this period, shoppers demonstrated a preference for convenience both in physical stores and online. In-store footfall was 126 million, increasing from 121.4 million in 2023. Conversely, online shoppers numbered 124.3 million, down from 134.2 million the previous year. 

NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said: “Thanksgiving weekend retains its prominence among holiday spending events and continues to play a significant role in the holiday season for both consumers and retailers. Even with this year’s shortened shopping period and the multitude of early sales promotions from retailers, this past weekend exceeded expectations in terms of the sheer volume of shoppers.”  

Black Friday, which is one of the busiest shopping days of the year in the US, continued to lead as the most frequented day for shopping, with 81.7 million individuals visiting stores on that day, up from 76.2 million last year, marking the highest turnout since before the pandemic. Online shopping on Black Friday saw approximately 87.3 million participants, a slight decrease from 90.6 million in 2023. 

The shopping momentum persisted into Saturday (30 November), which recorded the second highest in-store attendance with 61.1 million consumers making purchases at brick-and-mortar locations. 

Cyber Monday continued to be a major online shopping event, drawing in 64.4 million consumers, although slightly down from 73.1 million the previous year. The nature of this online event continues to change; a majority of Cyber Monday shoppers—63%—chose to use mobile devices for their purchases. This marks an increase from 55% last year and represents the highest percentage since NRF began tracking this data.  

Department stores and online platforms emerged as the leading shopping venues during this holiday weekend, each attracting 42% of shoppers, followed by grocery stores and supermarkets at 40%. Clothing and accessories as well as discount stores recorded 37%, and 32% shoppers respectively. 

Majority of purchases for the holiday season focused on gifts, with 86% of shoppers spending an average of $235, which is $8 more than in 2023. The most popular gifts included clothing and accessories, making up 49%, followed by toys at 31%, gift cards at 27%, food and candy at 23%, and personal care or beauty products, also at 23%. 

Given a shorter holiday shopping window this year, 38% of consumers capitalised on sales occurring during the week leading up to Thanksgiving weekend. However, many still have significant shopping left to complete; about 52% reported that they had not finished their holiday lists. 

According to the NRF, the holiday season runs from 1 November to 31 December, with total holiday spending expected to reach a record between $979.5bn and $989bn. This represents a growth of 2.5% to 3.5% compared to last year.