Thanksgiving weekend holiday spending up 7%

Retailers scored big over the past five days since Thanksgiving with a record 202.9 million consumers shopping online and in stores for promotional deals, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF).

The trade group said consumers surpassed the projected 186.9 million estimate and the previous record of 200.4 million in 2023.

NRF said the average spending per consumer topped $337.86, up 7% from a year ago. Total spending is an estimated $68.5 billion for the five days, up from $62 billion a year ago. Consumers were motivated by sales and promotions, such as free shipping and limited time deals, said Phil Rist, executive vice president at Prosper Insights & Analytics.

NRF CEO Matthew Shay said the results are a strong start to the holiday shopping season. The trade group projects holiday spending between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 to top $1.1 trillion this year, up at least 3.4% from a year ago. Shay said Thanksgiving weekend spending gives the group confidence it’s on track to hit its projection. At the end of Cyber Monday, shoppers in the survey told NRF they had about 53% of their holiday shopping still to do, which is similar to a year ago.

NRF said online sales led the traffic growth each of the five days. The top shopping destinations during Thanksgiving weekend were supermarkets (47%) and online (45%). Other top destinations included department stores (40%), clothing stores (37%) and discount stores (30%).

Other data from Adobe indicates consumers spent a total of $44.2 billion online during the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday. This is an increase of 7.7% year over year. The strong results were bolstered by record online sales during Black Friday which totaled $11.8 billion, up 9.1% year over year.

Consumers spent $14.25 billion online for Cyber Monday, up 7.1% from a year ago, and it was the biggest online shopping day in history, according to Adobe. In the peak hours from 8-10 p.m., consumers spent $16 million every minute, Adobe reported.

As more retailers offered earlier promotions, consumers showed up. Adobe said spending Nov. 29-30 was up 8.7%, and Thanksgiving Day spending online rose 5.3% to $6.4 billion amid strong promotions. Toy prices were discounted 28%, apparel was marked down 25%, while furniture, appliances and sporting goods were also discounted by an average of 18% off list prices.

After a strong Cyber Week showing, Adobe expects the full 2025 holiday season (Nov. 1 to Dec. 31) to hit $253.4 billion, up 5.3% from last year. Adobe said the deals are expected to linger through the first week of December, with promotions still in place as long as supplies last.

The deferred payment option of buy now, pay later crossed the $1 billion milestone during Cyber Monday, driving $1.03 billion in online spending, up 4.2% from a year ago, Adobe reported.