Store Aisles and Apps Busy Over Thanksgiving Weekend

A record 200.4 million U.S. consumers shopped over the five-day holiday weekend from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday, surpassing last year’s record of 196.7 million, an annual survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics concludes. The figures surpassed NRF’s initial expectations of 182 million shoppers.

“The five-day period between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday represents some of the busiest shopping days of the year and reflects the continued resilience of consumers and strength of the economy,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

Consumers used both online and in-store channels throughout the weekend, with 121.4 million people visiting physical retail locations to make in-store purchases. This figure is consistent with 122.7 million in 2022. Online shoppers totaled 134.2 million, up from 130.2 million last year.

Black Friday continued to be the most popular day for in-store shopping, with 76.2 million shoppers visiting bricks-and-mortar locations, up from 72.9 million in 2022. About 59 million consumers shopped in stores on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, down from 63.4 million last year. On par with last year, 78 percent of Saturday shoppers shopped specifically for Small Business Saturday.

Continuing the trend that started in 2019, Black Friday was also the most popular day for online shopping. Roughly 90.6 million consumers shopped online on Black Friday, up from 87.2 million in 2022. By comparison, approximately 73 million consumers shopped online on Cyber Monday, down slightly from 77 million last year.

The top destinations for Thanksgiving weekend shoppers were online (44 percent), grocery stores and supermarkets (42 percent), department stores (40 percent), clothing and accessories stores (36 percent) and electronics stores (29 percent).

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