Be Prepared for a Busy Thanksgiving Weekend

By Alan Wolf, YSN

  • Two-thirds of holiday shoppers will be primed to buy this weekend
  • That’s 2 million more consumers than last year
  • Of those, 65 percent will be shopping physical stores

Nearly 2 million more consumers are expected shop over Thanksgiving Weekend than last year, a new consumer survey shows.

Of those, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) are likely to do so in stores, up from 50 percent a year ago when COVID concerns limited foot traffic.

The top reason given for shopping during the holiday weekend was deals that are “too good to pass up,” which was cited by 58 percent of respondents. That was followed by keeping with tradition, which was claimed by 28 percent.

The survey, conducted earlier this month by Prosper Insights & Analytics for the National Retail Federation (NRF), suggests that there’s still plenty of pent-up demand out there, even after October’s unusually brisk sales.

See: Early Holiday Shopping Sent October Sales Soaring

“We’re expecting another record-breaking holiday season this year and Thanksgiving weekend will play a major role as it always has,” said NRF president/CEO Matthew Shay.

In total, an estimated 158.3 million Americans are expected to shop in-store or online during the extended weekend, including 30.6 million on Thanksgiving Day, when many independent dealers and a growing number of national chains will remain closed). Over the rest of the holiday stretch, 108 million consumers are forecast to shop on Black Friday; 58.1 million on Small Business Saturday; 31.2 million on Sunday; and 62.8 million on so-called Cyber Monday.

The combined daily figures exceed the five-day total due to those who plan to shop on multiple days. The survey of 7,837 adult consumers was conducted Nov. 1-10.

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