Here are the Thanksgiving products consumers want

Numerator continues to track purchase data and survey verified buyers to understand shifts in consumer behavior. For Thanksgiving 2023, we looked at consumers’ celebration, shopping, and spending plans for the holiday, as well as past purchase behaviors. Here’s what we learned: 

1. 91% of consumers plan to celebrate Thanksgiving, with another 5% undecided
2. While most celebration plans remained about the same as last year, more consumers say they will cook or bake this year (61% vs. 54% in 2022) and travel for the holiday (16% vs. 11% in 2022). About the same number of consumers plan to attend or host gatherings this year (61% vs. 63% in 2022)
3. Gen Z and Millennials are the most likely generations to say they plan to travel this Thanksgiving (21%), while consumers in the Midwest are most likely to attend or host gatherings (70%)
4. 88% say they plan to purchase food for Thanksgiving, with the most popular items being turkey or turkey breast (59%), dinner rolls or bread (54%), holiday pies (52%), stuffing/dressing (50%) and vegetables (48%)
5. Consumers in the Western U.S. are twice as likely to purchase seafood or meat alternatives for Thanksgiving, compared to other regions. Older generations are more likely to purchase turkey, and Boomers+ are twice as likely to purchase cranberry sauce, compared to other generations
6. 76% of consumers plan to buy their Thanksgiving items at grocery stores, followed by mass retailers like Walmart or Target (37%) and club retailers such as Costco or Sam’s Club (29%)
7. In the two weeks prior to Thanksgiving 2022, the brands that experienced the largest spikes in penetration (compared to the two weeks following Thanksgiving) were Stove Top (4.5x), Cool Whip (3.4x), Jiffy (3.3x), Butterball (3.2x), French’s (3.2x), Reddi-Wip (2.7x), Ocean Spray (2.6x), Carnation (2.5x), Libby's (2.4x), King's Hawaiian (2.3x), Swanson (2.3x) and Bob Evans (2.1x)
8. In the month leading up to Thanksgiving 2019, 29.7% of U.S. households purchased turkey. For Thanksgiving 2020, penetration spiked to 37% of households, as consumers stayed home and took up cooking and baking hobbies during the pandemic. Penetration has been steadily declining since 2020 (33.6% in 2021 and 31.1% in 2022)