Online and in-store shopping numbers nearly balance during Thanksgiving weekend

In releasing its survey on Sunday, the National Retail Federation also said it was sticking by its forecast for retail sales growth of 3.7 percent in November and December, a slight deceleration from 4.1 percent growth over the holidays past year.

Etailer trade association the IMRG says the day was one of “transition” as the event moved away from a single day of discounts in-store and online, to an event stretching over a week or more and taking place mostly online.

Specifically, almost 102 million people say they shopped in stores over the Thanksgiving weekend, and more than 103 million say they shopped online, according to the NRFs survey.

Sales at retail stores on Black Friday fell 10 percent to $10.4 billion this year, down from $11.6 billion in 2014, according to research firm ShopperTrak.

With Black Friday now starting on Thursday for numerous major retailers and so-called Black Friday deals starting a month before the actual date, the 2015 version of the nations kickoff to the buying season has had some of the luster removed.

“Millennials have changed the game when it comes to Thanksgiving weekend shopping, making sure they were out early and often over the entire weekend in order to tackle their gift lists as well as their self-gifting lists”, said Prosper’s Principal Analyst Pam Goodfellow.

Image: Caption: Holiday shoppers indulge in weekend deals.

The study revealed that men slightly preferred shopping in stores, compared to women – while more women planned to shop online than the men surveyed.

The NRF changed its surveying methodology and said the report is not comparable to last year’s numbers.

People under the age of 35 were most likely to spend over the weekend.

NRF President and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Shay said the outlook for the holiday season remained solid, given the low unemployment rate, lower gasoline prices and other factors.