Only 11.9% of in-store Thanksgiving weekend shoppers visited local/small businesses, according to a survey by Prosper Insights & Analytics for the National Retail Federation.  Despite efforts to encourage shopping at local independent retailers by American Express through its Small Business Saturday promotion (see "Retailer Days Proliferate"), department stores had the biggest share, with 50.9% of shoppers, followed by discount stores (34.2%), electronics stores (32%), clothing or accessories stores (28%), and grocery stores (25%).  No trend information was available, so it’s not clear whether those percentages have shifted over the last year.

But one percentage that appears to be growing was the share of shoppers that shopped online, with 44% of shoppers shopping online and 40% in stores over Thanksgiving weekend this year.  That compares to a thinner spread in 2015 (103 million vs. 102 million shoppers, see "More Shoppers Online than in Stores").

Purchases were down this year, according to the survey, with the average shopper spending 3.5% less than in 2015.  But shoppers are behind (undoubtedly affected by the unseasonably warm temperatures across much of the U.S. in November), with the survey showing that the percentage of shoppers done with holiday shopping is only 9%, vs. 11% at this time last year, and 23% haven’t started, up from 19% in 2015.

Some of the trends reported in the survey, such as the slow start to the season, affect retailers across channels, but we’ll place our bets on geek culture stores to do better than most independent retailers, due to their strong communities and unique product lines.