More than three-quarters of consumers—nearly 197 million—said they shopped over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, up 6 percent since 2021. The numbers outpaced the retail federation’s forecast by more than 30 million.
“I think many observers predicted this was going to be a big weekend, as we did,” the federation’s President and CEO Matthew Shay told reporters during a telephonic news conference Nov. 29. “I think it’s turning out to be even bigger than we expected, in terms of seeing enthusiasm across consumers and the shopping public.”
Retailers reported seeing an uptick in in-store shoppers with more than 122.7 million people over the weekend. This was a 17-percent increase from last year.
The federation forecasts overall growth between 6 and 8 percent above 2021.
But that could change if railway workers go on strike Dec. 9.
The stoppage would also be devastating during the holiday shopping season, said Shay, the federation’s president.
“It would be devastating for our economy at a time like this to see any stoppage in the shipment of goods by rail,” Shay said. “We rely on that. It’s the worst possible time for this to happen.”
The federation hopes the rail strike is averted before retailers start making decisions about shipping, delaying or canceling orders, Shay said.
External factors such as the rail strike could disrupt consumer behavior and thinking. Anything that disrupts consumer behavior will impact consumption and economic activity, Shay said.
“A quick resolution is in the interest of our economy and industries, and this is our most important time of the year, so we’d like to see this done as quickly as possible,” he said.
Despite the impending holiday disruptions, consumers are returning to pre-pandemic shopping habits by returning to stores.
Nearly 123 million shoppers—a record number—preferred to buy gifts in person at the stores during the five days, including Cyber Monday, according to the federation. That was an increase of 17 percent over 2021.
Online shoppers increased slightly reaching 130 million—a 2-percent bump.
The biggest holiday weekend spenders this year were households with an income of $100,000 or more, according to the retail federation’s Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist.
The average amount of money spent this weekend was $325 per shopper, which was up $24 from last year’s average but down $37 from the pre-pandemic average in 2019, Rist added.
Shoppers mostly bought clothing items, followed by toys, gift cards, books, video games, food, candy, and electronics.
Most consumers shopped on Black Friday, which was also the busiest online shopping day. More than 87 million shopped online Friday compared to 77 million on Cyber Monday, when a record 59 percent of shoppers used their mobile devices, Rist said.
“Overall, this was a very strong holiday weekend, and it’s a positive indicator of where we’re headed over the next few weeks,” Rist said.
More than half of shoppers—56 percent—were looking for early holiday sales and promotions, the retail federation’s report showed.
“More shoppers felt the deals and promotions were better this year through the five-day holiday weekend than they were a year ago, and 86 percent of shoppers expect to continue seeing great deals throughout the rest of the season,” the foundation’s President Shay said.
Consumers are digging into savings and using credit to pay for gifts this year, but most prefer to use debit cards for their purchases. Forty-three percent are using debit and 38 percent are using credit cards, the federation reported.
However, even with the record numbers seen during Thanksgiving weekend, holiday shopping is only about half done for the season, according to the federation.
