Black Friday and Cyber Monday Shopping Exceeds Industry Estimates

An estimated 197 million people shopped from Black Friday to Cyber Monday, the National Retail Federation said, fewer than last year but surpassing the group’s expectations.

Slightly fewer people shopped during this year’s Thanksgiving weekend compared with 2023, when a record 200 million people shelled out for the holidays, according to a survey released on Tuesday by the National Retail Federation.

The data showed that an estimated 197 million people shopped during the five-day period from Thanksgiving Day to Cyber Monday, still indicating relatively robust spending patterns to kick off the holiday season, which this year is poised to revolve around consumers’ search for deals. Data released by Mastercard on Saturday showed that Americans were selective about what they bought and that they took advantage of discounts offered on Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

But shoppers also spent more this year: almost 15 percent more online on Black Friday than they did last year, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures retail sales across all forms of payment. In-store sales were also up but more modestly, at 0.7 percent, for an overall increase of 3.4 percent.

As a whole, consumer spending, the engine of the U.S. economy, has remained relatively robust. Corporate executives, however, have recently painted a picture of Americans still feeling the squeeze of inflation, hinting at diverging fortunes for retailers as shoppers have become pickier about what they buy and where they buy it.

Almost the same number of people shopped online as those who opted to do their shopping at physical stores: About 126 million people visited physical stores over the holiday weekend, the National Retail Federation said, while roughly 124 million did their shopping online. Black Friday had the most traffic, both in stores and online.

Consumers spent an average of $235 on gifts for the holidays — $8 more than in 2023 — with almost half spent on clothing or accessories, the retail federation said.

“Even with this year’s shortened shopping period and the multitude of early sales promotions from retailers, this past weekend exceeded expectations in terms of the sheer volume of shoppers,” Matthew Shay, the president and chief executive of the federation, said in a statement. The group had predicted that roughly 183 million people would shop over the weekend.

In the survey, 38 percent of shoppers said they had taken advantage of sales during the week leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Retail executives have highlighted these cautious spending patterns in recent weeks: An executive at Target described consumers as shifting from “resilient” to “resourceful,” and a leader at Walmart said shoppers “seek value to maximize their budgets.”

On a call with reporters on Tuesday, Mr. Shay said the slight downturn in the number of shoppers over Thanksgiving weekend partly reflected the fact that the holiday fell later in the month. More shoppers jumped on retailers’ early deals before the holiday weekend, he said.

The National Retail Federation projected U.S. holiday sales to grow as much as 3.5 percent overall this year, slower than in recent years but in line with averages before the coronavirus pandemic.