US shoppers came out in spades over Thanksgiving weekend: According to a report by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, quoted in IDEX Online, a record 189.6 million Americans shopped from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday – a rise of 14% over last year’s 165.8 million consumers.
Spending was up 16% year-on-year as consumers who shopped both online and in store spent an average of $366.79. For the first time ever, Black Friday edged out Cyber Monday as the busiest day for online shopping. It was also the busiest day for in-store activity. 124 million consumers shopped in store while 142.2 million shopped on retailers’ websites. 75.7 million did both. 75% of consumers used their mobile devices to research products, compare prices or make purchases – up from 66% last year. 49% cited free shipping as the biggest draw.
Prosper executive vice president of Strategy Phil Rist commented: “The growth in online retail sales is a tide that lifts everybody. When consumers are buying from retailers online but picking up or making returns in-store, it is more and more difficult to distinguish between the sales retailers make in their stores and the ones they make on their websites”.
