The National Retail Federation  (NRF) said that from Thanksgiving Day through to Cyber Monday, more than 174 million Americans shopped in stores and online during the just-concluded holiday weekend, beating the 164 million estimated shoppers from an earlier survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics.

(The NRF is  the world’s largest retail trade association, representing discount and department stores, home goods and specialty stores, Main Street merchants, grocers, wholesalers, chain restaurants and internet retailers from the United States and more than 45 countries.)  

“Average spending per person over the five-day period was US$ 335.47, with US$ 250.78 — 75 per cent — specifically going toward gifts. The biggest spenders were older Millennials (25-34 years old) at US$ 419.52,” NRF reported.

“All the fundamentals were in place for consumers to take advantage of incredible deals and promotions retailers had to offer,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said. “From good weather across the country to low unemployment and strong consumer confidence, the climate was right, literally and figuratively, for consumers to tackle their holiday shopping lists online and in stores.”

Interestingly, the study noted that investments by retailers’ in technology   paid off with consumers seamlessly shopping on all platforms through the long weekend. “The survey found that over 64 million shopped both online and in stores. In addition, over 58 million shopped only online, and over 51 million shopped only in stores,” the study found. “The multichannel shopper spent US$ 82 more on average than the online-only shopper, and US$ 49 more on average than those shoppers who only shopped in stores.”

All days of this all-important weekend – which is the barometer of retail health of the country –  saw shoppers thronging at the various platforms to make purchases. The study reveals that Black Friday was  the most popular day for in-store shopping  --  cited by 77 million consumers; while 55 million consumers cited  Small Business Saturday. For online shopping, the top two days were, of course,  Cyber Monday with more than 81 million people hitting the keyboard and Black Friday with more than 66 million doing so. “In addition, 63 per cent of smartphone owners used their mobile devices to make holiday decisions, and 29 per cent used their phones to make actual purchases,” the NRF-Prosper study revealed.

“This year, consumers 65 and older proved that online shopping isn’t just for Generation Z and Millennials,” Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist said. “However, younger consumers (those under 34) are still savvy when it comes to online shopping and leveraged their smartphones the most to browse for the best deals from some of their favourite retailers.”

Shoppers were  fairly discerning looking out for “good deals”.   Among those who spent, 60 per cent said the majority of their purchases were driven primarily by sales, and 48 per cent said deals were better this season than in earlier years.

Top shopping destinations included department stores (43 percent), online retailers (42 percent), electronic stores (32 percent), clothing and accessories stores (31 percent) and discount stores (also 31 percent). Some of the most popular gifts purchased included clothing or accessories (58 percent), toys (38 percent), books and other media (31 percent), electronics (30 percent) and gift cards (23 percent).

Meanwhile US media was also thoroughly excited about the results for Cyber Monday, which is said to have accounted for record breaking online sales worth  US$ 6.59 billion – the highest online shopping figure in history . This figure represented an increase of  16.8 per cent over  the previous year, according to Adobe Analytics. 

According to the analytics firm, Black Friday online sales were also in the record breaking category standing at US$ 5.03 billion in. “Adobe predicts this will be the first-ever holiday season to break US$ 100 billion in online sales,” one report stated.

“Cyber Monday broke records as consumers picked up their phones and tablets and went looking for the bargains they have come to expect on this day," Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights, told ABC News. "Better retail experiences, especially on mobile, likely made the shopping experience that much faster for consumers this year.”

For,  the channel reported,  that mobile shopping “set a new record on Cyber Monday: 47.4 perc ent of shopping happened from either a smartphone or a tablet. That means Americans spent over US$ 2 billion right from the palms of their hands.”

 Adobe Analytics is said to have reported that US consumers spent US$ 19.62 billion online over the five-day period from November  23, 2017 (Thanksgiving) through November  27 (Cyber Monday) – 15 per cent and US$  2.6 billion more  than was  spent during the  same period of the previous year.