Fewer Consumers Than Last Year Shopped Both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, NPD Says

More consumers opted to take advantage of big holiday deals on just one of the big retail days this year, rather than venturing out to stores on both Thanksgiving and Black Friday, NPD said in a Friday report. The proportion of those who shopped both Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday declined to 39 percent this year from 46 percent in 2014, it said. “Black Friday was clearly the dominant choice with 43 percent of shoppers hitting stores, with a slight boost from last year,” it said. Consumers choosing to only shop on Thanksgiving grew to 18 percent from 14 percent last year, “despite many stores deciding not to open their doors on the holiday,” it said. “The majority of shoppers who did venture out on Thanksgiving or Black Friday went to just one store and they were done,” it said. Thanksgiving Day at 6 p.m., and Black Friday at noon were the peak spending hours this year, it said. Best Buy “won the early shopper, hitting their peak” at 5 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, it said. Overall, technology “captured the largest share of spend on Thanksgiving Day, but the average spend declined compared to 2014,” it said.