One-fifth of Black Friday shoppers bought home decor

Susan Dickenson -- Home Accents Today, 11/26/2012 4:28:46 PM

Of the record 247 million shoppers who visited stores and websites over the 2012 Black Friday weekend, 20.6% of(image: National Retail Federation) adults (age 18 and older) bought home décor or home furnishings.

The total number of Black Friday shoppers (including individual consumers who shopped on multiple days) was up 9%, and the total amount of spending increased 13% over last year's numbers, according to a survey conducted by BIGinsight for the National Retail Federation.The average holiday shopper spent $423, up from $398 last year, with 40.7% of that amount spent online.

Of all those who shopped online on Black Friday weekend, 28.7% bought home décor or home furnishings according to the survey.

Among all 247 million shoppers, the home category was most popular with the 18-34 age group, where 23.2% of respondents said they bought home décor or home furnishings. Within the 18-34 age group, 35.3% said they looked for information on Black Friday sales and promotions by searching online, and 30.7% looked on Facebook.

Averaged across all age categories, advertising circulars were shoppers' most popular source for Black Friday sales information and promotions (49.8%). Emails from retailers were a popular source among 35.5%, television among 22.7%, online searching among 30.3%, and Facebook among 16.3% of all shoppers. Pinterest was a source of Black Friday information for only 2% and Twitter for 3.7% of all shoppers.

Thanksgiving Thursday saw more than 35 million Americans shopping in stores and online, up from 29 million last year. A record number also shopped online and in stores on Black Friday -- 89 million, compared to 86 million last year.

NRF predicts holiday sales will grow 4.1% this year to $586.1 billion.

The Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted Nov. 23-24 by BIGinsight for NRF, polled 4,005 consumers and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6%.