More consumers plan to wait until Thanksgiving weekend to start their holiday shopping, leading to a delayed start to the shopping season, according to the 2014 Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey from The NPD Group.

Eighteen percent of consumers claim they will start during Thanksgiving weekend, a sharp contrast to last year’s 13%. Among those reporting that they will begin their shopping during Thanksgiving weekend, 12% plan to shop Black Friday, while the remaining 6% plan to do their shopping Saturday and/or Sunday.

When the study was conducted in September, 16% of consumers had already started their holiday shopping versus 15% last year. An additional 19% said they plan to start shopping before Thanksgiving compared to 22% last year.

“Consumers are anticipating the Thanksgiving weekend doorbuster deals and other savings incentives, and as a result of their proven interest in special sales and deals, retailers last year began to open on Thanksgiving Day with more stores jumping on this new tradition this year,” said Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry analyst. “However, it’s important to keep in mind that this doesn’t mean more sales at the register. After all, how many more family members and friends do consumers need to shop for just because the stores decided to open earlier? How much more money do they have in their holiday budget because the stores started promoting earlier? This year we’ll see more shopping happening in the Thanksgiving zone, a deeper lull following and, finally, a mad dash at the end for the last-minute shoppers.”

Nearly 60% of consumers plan to do at least some of their holiday shopping online this year. Women are more likely than men to shop online (62% versus 57%), as are men and women with children in the household.

Consumers go online for all phases of their purchases, from pre-shopping homework to the checkout counter. Two-thirds of those who do pre-purchase research claim that they will utilize online research to learn more about products before purchase. In addition to special sale prices and overall value, consumers list convenience and free shipping as top purchase-drivers.

“Until retailers drive the consumers back into the stores, online will continue to grow at a faster pace than traditional store shopping,” Cohen said. “The convenience and bargains offered online are too plentiful for the consumer to pass up.”

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