A person carries shopping bags while shopping on Black Friday at Garden State Plaza on November 28, 2025 in Paramus, New Jersey.
Eduardo Muñoz Álvarez | Getty Images
The desire for deep discounts prompted 202.9 million U.S. consumers to shop during the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, according to a survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics released Tuesday.
That estimated total beat the trade major’s forecast that 186.9 million people would shop during the five-day period. This is also an increase from last year’s participation rate of 197 million consumers during the same period.
The shopping participation rate is the largest since the NRF began tracking the five-day total in 2017, and surpassed the previous record of 200.4 million shoppers over the same days in 2023. The trade group does not estimate the total amount spent over the Thanksgiving long weekend.
On a call with reporters, NRF CEO Matt Shay described the shopping period as “the psychological kickoff to the holidays.” He said the number of buyers represented “a very, very strong start to the season”.
“One of the key factors here is that for many Americans and many families, holiday spending and shopping is an essential part of the budget,” he said.
Even if consumers step back and compromise, they may still be shopping as December approaches. Shay said the holidays are “really an emotional purchase.”
Retailers and economists are closely watching spending during the peak shopping season, while trying to make sense of conflicting indicators about the outlook for the country and American households. While consumer confidence has collapsed and a growing number of major companies have laid off thousands of employees, retail sales data remains strong.
Even at a time of year when store traffic is typically higher, retailers have been looking for ways to manage one of their biggest costs: labor. Holiday hiring by retailers is expected to total between 265,000 and 365,000 positions this year, the lowest number of seasonal workers in at least 15 years, according to the NRF.
Despite this, the NRF predicts that U.S. consumers will continue to spend freely on gifts, decor and more. The trade group said in early November that it expects holiday spending to hit a record of between $1.1 trillion and $1.2 trillion between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, which would mark the first time the total has exceeded $1 trillion.
This would represent an increase of 3.7% to 4.2% from last year’s holiday period. This would be a slight decline from last year’s holiday sales growth rate of 4.3%. The NRF forecast excludes car dealerships, gas stations and restaurants.
Shay said the Thanksgiving weekend spending gives the industry group confidence that it is on track to meet that projection. As Cyber Monday ended, shoppers told NRF they had about 53% of their Christmas purchases remaining, similar to a year ago.
Packages on a conveyor belt at an Amazon fulfillment center on Cyber Monday in Robbinsville, New Jersey, United States, Monday, December 1, 2025.
Michael Nagle | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Consumers said in the survey that they were motivated to shop during the five days because of sales and promotions, such as free shipping and limited-time offers, said Phil Rist, executive vice president of Prosper Insights & Analytics, the research firm that conducts the annual NRF survey. The survey included nearly 3,100 adults and was conducted November 26-30.
Mark Mathews, the NRF’s chief economist, said “there is a gap around this type of spending” for families, regardless of their income level. He said financially struggling households typically cut back on spending in other areas like leisure and travel as they prioritize spending during the holidays.
He added that he expects shoppers to fill bigger baskets this season, including non-holiday items, because shoppers “want to take advantage of the great deals they see.”
The top gifts purchased during this five-day period were clothing and accessories, with 51% of consumers surveyed saying they purchased items in this category, followed by toys at 32%, books and other media at 28%. and gift cards with 26%.
A total of 129.5 million consumers shopped in stores over the five days, an increase of 3% year-over-year, according to the survey, even as more Americans have done more of their Black Friday shopping online in recent years. Online shopping participation rate increased again – by 9% year-over-year – as 134.9 million people made purchases on retailers’ websites and apps.
Other research has also indicated an increase in online spending. U.S. consumers spent a total of $14.25 billion online on Cyber Monday, an increase of 7.1% year-over-year, according to Adobe Analytics. The company analyzes direct online transactions and covers more than a trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, 100 million individual items and 18 product categories.
Over the five days from Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, Adobe said consumers spent a total of $44.2 billion online, a 7.7% year-over-year increase. A significant portion of that came from Black Friday online spending, which totaled $11.8 billion and increased 9.1% year-over-year as shoppers sought early deals.