Post-Thanksgiving Shopping Survey Encouraging for Retail

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (December 5, 2025) – The 2025 ICSC Post-Thanksgiving Weekend Survey showed that 206 million people in the United States shopped between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday and brick-and-mortar shopping increased from last year.

“Thanksgiving weekend is a cornerstone of holiday shopping and this year’s results show that shoppers are not only resilient but increasingly strategic in their shopping behaviors,” said Tom McGee, President & CEO of ICSC in a news release. “They continue to leverage technology to find value and efficiency while still prioritizing in-person experiences to make the season special. Retailers that can deliver on price, convenience and memorable engagement are positioned for success, not just during the holiday season but also into the new year.”

The ICSC study encompasses two surveys conducted online on November 28, 2025, and December 1, 2025, each with a demographically representative U.S. sample of 1,012. ICSC is a membership organization serving the commercial real estate and retail industries. 

Here are some of the key findings of the study:

• The 206 million people (77% of U.S. adults) who shopped between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday were led by Millennials (88%) and Gen Z (84%).
• Brick-and-mortar was even more important to consumers’ Thanksgiving weekend traditions; 84% of shoppers shopped in-store or for in-store pickup, an increase of 6 percentage points compared to 2024.
• 152 million people visited a shopping center during the long weekend for shopping, dining, services or entertainment, with 9 in 10 “Gen Zers” spending time at shopping centers.
• Click-and-collect continued to drive incremental spending, as 64% made additional purchases when picking up orders in-store.
• Roughly two-thirds of shoppers (65%) bought gifts for others, while dining and experiences continued to play a meaningful role; 44% of respondents reported spending at restaurants over the weekend, while 23% spent on entertainment and activities.
• Of the five-day period, Black Friday remained the most popular day to shop; respondents estimated 38% of their total Thanksgiving weekend spending happened on Friday.
• However, this year, spending on Small Business Saturday (November 29) and the following Sunday (November 30) outpaced spending on Cyber Monday, as consumers viewed the entire weekend as an opportunity to find deals, rather than concentrating their spending on a few select days.
• 61% of holiday shoppers said Thanksgiving weekend remains as important for their holiday spending as it has in the past, even as retailers offer more promotions throughout the season.
• Half of those who made purchases during the five-day period used AI tools to assist with shopping, including to compare prices, collect gift ideas and recommendations, or find the best deal. AI users were led by Gen Z (66%) and Millennials (61%), though half of Gen X consumers also leveraged the tools.
• Despite robust spending over Thanksgiving weekend, 65% said they still have significant holiday shopping left to do in the final stretch of the season, giving retailers an opportunity to capture additional consumer spending in the weeks ahead.
• As consumers remain price sensitive, 69% said they took advantage of the weekend’s deals to buy items they’d previously delayed purchasing because the price was too high.
• Further, 59% of consumers felt that this year’s promotions were as good as they were in past years, broadly consistent with last year’s sentiment.
• Food-and-beverage was the most popular category for 56% of consumers during the long weekend. Other popular categories included apparel (51%), toys and games (42%), and health and beauty (36%).