Consumers’ shopping desires beat out their economic worries during Cyber Week 2025, with nearly half of all purchases occurring across both online and offline channels, according to transaction data from Attain.
The split might suggest that shoppers are acting with deliberate intent to maximize value rather than defaulting to either digital or physical retail.
The data shows 44.1% of Cyber Week purchases involved both online and in-store transactions, with purely online purchases accounting for 24.8% and in-store representing 31.1% of the mix. This omnichannel approach aligns with broader consumer trends toward purposeful spending across multiple touchpoints.
“This year’s record turnout reflects a highly engaged consumer who is focused on value, responds to compelling promotions, and seizes upon the opportunity to make the winter holidays special and meaningful," said Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the National Retail Federation, in a statement.
Performance strengthened across categories year-over-year, with both average transaction amounts and total spend per user climbing substantially. Club stores led the surge with 38% growth in average transaction amounts and 39% increases in total spend per user. Discount stores followed with 20% and 19% growth respectively, while online marketplaces saw 23% and 41% gains.
Even everyday categories showed double-digit growth. Coffee purchases increased 16% in both transaction size and per-user spend, while fast food transactions grew 19% with 14% higher per-user totals. Groceries posted 18% and 14% growth in the same metrics.
The retailer mix revealed strong consumer interest in gift-oriented and apparel-focused brands. JCPenney, Aeropostale, Carter’s, Victoria’s Secret, Bath & Body Works, and Bass Pro Shops over-indexed significantly during Cyber Week, appearing among the top “popping” retailers that performed well above their rolling 12-month averages.
Product categories that over-performed skewed heavily toward holiday and gift-related items. Beyond obvious seasonal categories like packaged stuffing, pie crusts, and ham, gift-enabling products dominated the list: men’s bottoms, card and table games, drawing and illustration supplies, and wine all showed strong relative performance.
The NRF reported record traffic with 202.9 million consumers shopping during the five-day period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, up from 197 million in 2024. Average holiday-related spending reached $337.86 per shopper, the highest since 2019’s record of $361.90.
Regional retailers with strong community connections saw particularly robust results.
“Two of our retail clients had historically great Black Fridays. One had a 4x increase in online purchases from last year and the other had their best Black Friday in recent memory,” said Tyler Getman, activation strategy supervisor for True Media. “Although both have multiple locations, they’re regional not national, and both are intentional about building deep connections with their local communities — which could support that consumers are looking to be more purposeful with their dollars and support their local community retailers this holiday season.”
Despite recent layoffs and still-high (though easing) inflation hanging over the Christmas and New Year’s break, the NRF maintains its holiday forecast that spending will surpass $1 trillion for the first time, with growth between 3.7% and 4.2% over 2024.
With consumers having completed roughly half their holiday shopping as of Cyber Week’s conclusion, retailers face continued pressure to maintain promotional intensity and omnichannel execution through the final weeks of the season.
