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Only 11% of Americans Plan to Shop on Thanksgiving, Poll Suggests

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Customers shop at a Walmart store in the Porter Ranch section of Los Angeles November 26, 2013. This year, Black Friday starts earlier than ever.
Customers shopping at a Walmart store on Black Friday 2013.Kevork Djansezian—Reuters
By Tessa Berenson Rogers

About 11% of consumers plan to shop on Thanksgiving, a new poll suggests, despite a retail bargain frenzy brewing around Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals this year.

The survey, released by the National Retail Federation (NRF), shows that 61.1% of shoppers will bargain hunt over the Thanksgiving weekend, which is consistent with data from last year. But, only 18.3% of those who said they would or might shop that weekend said they would do so on Thanksgiving Day, down from 23.5% last year. MarketWatch reports this indicates that about 11% of consumers overall plan to go deal-hunting that day.

“We could witness a sea change this holiday season as consumers’ reliance on extremely deep discounts over the biggest shopping weekend of the year shifts to more of a ‘wait- and-see’ mentality around what retailers will be offering on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday,” said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay in a press release.

[MarketWatch]

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Write to Tessa Berenson Rogers at tessa.Rogers@time.com