MOLINE, Ill — Many customers have started their holiday shopping early this year – about 46% of shoppers started earlier than they typically do, according to the National Retail Federation’s Annual November Holiday Customer Survey.
An estimated 2 million more shoppers than last year would be shopping this Thanksgiving weekend, with the NRF survey showing 66% of holiday shoppers plan to take advantage of the Thanksgiving weekend deals this year. Customers were expected to spend an average of $998 each on holiday shopping.
WHEN WILL THEY SHOP?
About 31 million customers planned to shop in-store or online on Thanksgiving Day, 108 on Black Friday, 58 million on Small Business Saturday, 31 million on Sunday and 63 million on Cyber Monday, according to the survey.
WHAT WILL THEY BUY?
Of the Thanksgiving weekend shoppers, 53% said they were going for clothes; 46% said gift cards; 39% said toys; 35% said books, music, movies or video games; and 31% said food or candy.
The NRF, through its survey of customers, also found the top toys this year for kids. The top-10 toys parents were buying for their boys this year were:
- LEGO
- Cars and trucks
- Hotwheels
- PlayStation
- Video games
- Nerf
- Paw Patrol
- Remote control cars
- Xbox
- Pokémon
The top-10 toys that parents were buying for their girls this year were:
- Barbie
- Dolls
- LOL Dolls
- LEGO
- Apple products or a smartphone
- American Girl or baby dolls
- Apparel and accessories, especially those “Frozen”-related
- Disney or Disney Princesses merchandise
- Beauty products
- Nintendo Switch