Survey: 38 Percent Will Start Black Friday Shopping on Thanksgiving

Be grateful for what you have, and then go buy a bunch more — that’s apparently the new holiday tradition, like it or not.

In a survey of 500 American consumers, 38 percent said they’re likely to shop on Thanksgiving, consulting firm Accenture says. Slightly more people (41 percent) consider Thanksgiving a time for a family, not shopping. Here’s what else the survey found:

• Gift cards are on the shopping list of 56 percent of consumers, more often than clothes are (54 percent).
• Shoppers plan to spend an average of $646 this year, compared with $582 last year. However, most people (62 percent) plan to spend the same amount as they did last year.
• 55 percent say they will shop on Black Friday, the highest level of interest in five years.
• The number of people who will do most of their Black Friday shopping online is growing: 30 percent this year, up from 25 percent in 2012.
• 73 percent say they have started shopping or plan to have most of it done by the end of November.
• Just over half said they planned to buy gifts using cash they saved specifically for the holidays, a good way to avoid the holiday debt trap.
• Consumers expect great deals, with 62 percent saying they won’t buy unless the discount is better than 30 percent off.

What do you think of consumers shopping on Thanksgiving, and retailers pushing for it with pre-Black Friday “doorbuster” deals? Let us know on our Facebook page.