An estimated 56.9 million American adults—45 percent of all shoppers—have bought or plan to buy tech products during the Thanksgiving shopping week, according to a report released by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA).
The shopping week, which includes the Monday before Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, reflects a changing retail landscape where online and mobile shopping are playing a bigger role.
A combined 85 percent of those who shopped did so online or with mobile, compared with 94 percent who shopped in physical stores.
Of those who shopped Black Friday Week 2015, 74 percent shopped online and 57 percent shopped using a mobile device, such as a smartphone or tablet.
The survey of 1,003 U.S. adults found more than half of Americans will consider themselves all done (14 percent) or mostly finished (36 percent) with their holiday shopping at the close of the shopping week.
On the other hand, 11 percent of Americans indicate they have not started their holiday shopping, 20 percent have barely started and 17 percent say they still have a lot more shopping left.
Among Americans who shopped online this year, 85 percent cited avoiding crowds as their top reason, 79 percent said saving time and 78 percent cited finding better or similar deals online compared with in stores.
In addition, 57 percent of consumers indicated they chose to shop online so they could shop outside of physical store hours.
Overall, 44.3 million U.S. adults (18 percent) plan to shop on Cyber Monday, on par with last year.
Additionally, 105 million U.S. adults who shopped or planned to shop Black Friday week say they will still have some shopping to do by the end of the holiday week.
Nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of all Americans, roughly 160 million people, are planning to buy tech gifts this holiday season, a steady increase over last year, according to the CTA’s 22nd Annual CE Holiday Purchase Patterns Study.
Emerging technologies continue to drive growth in the tech industry, with one in three holiday shoppers (33 percent) looking to purchase an emerging tech product, such as smart home devices, wearable activity trackers and drones, during the 2015 holiday season.
The CTA estimates Americans will spend $40 billion over the entire 2015 Thanksgiving shopping week, and consumers who shopped spent an average of $319, a 14 percentage point decrease over 2014, yet higher spending than in 2013.
In total, 27 percent of U.S. adults shopped on Black Friday, up from 24 percent in 2014, and 10 percent shopped on Thanksgiving Day, down from 14 percent last year.
