Americans preparing for Thanksgiving also are considering their shopping list for the holiday weekend. The National Retail Federation’s Thanksgiving Weekend Expectations survey, conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics, provides a preliminary look at shopping expectations over Thanksgiving weekend.

Six in 10 (61.1%) surveyed in the study say they will or may shop either Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday, which equates to more than 140.1 million unique shoppers. Expectations are similar to last year’s preliminary survey results of 140.3 million.

Specifically, 67.6 million holiday shoppers (29.5%) say they will shop, a number down slightly from the 69.4 million who planned to do so last year, and 72.5 million (31.6%) say they will wait and see if the deals are worth it before they decide, a figure up 2% over last year’s 71 million “maybe” shoppers.

“Consumers today want more than just the discounts they’ve been showered with since the start of the recession; they want exclusive offerings and a good reason to spend their discretionary budgets,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “We could witness a sea change this holiday season as consumers’ reliance on extremely deep discounts over the biggest shopping weekend of the year shifts to more of a ‘wait-and-see’ mentality around what retailers will be offering on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. We are positive retailers have a few tricks up their sleeve that will draw their customers to their stores and websites, deciding the deals are worth it after all.”

When it comes to preliminary expectations for when people will shop, of the 61.1% who will or may shop in stores and online over the weekend, 18.3% (25.6 million) say they will check out retailers’ Thanksgiving Day deals and shop Thursday, down from the preliminary 23.5% last year; 74% of those who plan to shop on Thanksgiving Day say they shopped on Thanksgiving last year as well.

Additionally, more than two-thirds (68.2%) will shop Black Friday (95.5 million); two in five (42.9%) will shop Saturday (60 million); and one in five (21.6%) will shop Sunday (30.3 million).

For the first time, NRF asked shoppers about their intentions to shop on Small Business Saturday. The survey found of those shopping Saturday, nearly three-quarters (72.7%) say they will or may specifically shop for Small Business Saturday.

“More than just a shopping day, Small Business Saturday highlights the millions of entrepreneurs and visionaries who help make retail the dynamic and community-focused industry that it is,” Shay added.

Much talk has surfaced in the last few years over the number of young adults who shop on Thanksgiving, and this year, millennials are indicating they are once again anxious to take advantage of what retailers have to offer. According to the survey, nearly eight in 10 (79.6%) 18- to 24-year-olds will or may shop over the weekend, the highest of any age group. Specifically, nearly one-quarter (22.6%) will shop Thanksgiving Day, down slightly from 27.8% last year and 79.9% will shop Black Friday, up from 71.5% who planned to do so last year. Nearly three-quarters (73.2%) of 18- to 24-year-olds say they shopped Thanksgiving Day last year.

“For younger shoppers, shopping on Thanksgiving and Black Friday is as much a social experience as it is a buying mission,” said Prosper’s Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow. “While these shoppers may not have the biggest holiday budgets or the longest shopping lists, they still enjoy the ‘tradition’ of heading out with friends and family on two of retail’s most exciting shopping days.”

• Prev
• Next