Dec 3 (Reuters) - About 197 million Americans shopped

over the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday this

year, data from the National Retail Federation showed on

Tuesday.

The number of shoppers exceeded the retail body's prior

expectations of 183.4 million, but was still lower than the 200

million shoppers in 2023.

During the long weekend, consumers on average spent $235, or

$8 more than 2023, with top gifts purchases being apparel and

accessories, followed by toys as well as personal care, the

retail trade body's report showed.

The data signals retailers' success in countering a shorter

shopping window this year and bargain-focused shoppers through

blockbuster deals.

"Even with this year's shortened shopping period and the

multitude of early sales promotions from retailers, this past

weekend exceeded expectations in terms of the sheer volume of

shoppers," NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said.

With only 26 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas this

year, the NRF expects holiday sales to grow at its slowest pace.

Black Friday was the most popular day during the

Thanksgiving weekend with about 81.7 million consumers shopping

in stores and about 87.3 million shopping online, the report

said on Tuesday.

U.S. e-commerce sales surged 14.6% during Black Friday,

according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, while in-store sales

edged up 0.7% from last year.

Customers increasingly opting to shop on their mobiles and

laptops instead of heading into stores, encouraged U.S.

retailers to go all out with aggressive promotions and deals on

websites and apps.

Retail giant Walmart ( WMT ) has been offering varied deals

on categories ranging from Samsung TVs to Lego and Hot Wheels

toys through its pre-Black Friday discounts which began on

November 11.

Target ( TGT ), on the other hand, slashed prices by $100 on

certain products including 75-inch Westinghouse TV and also

introduced 50% discounts on toys.

Top selling categories on Cyber Monday ranged from

electronics to jewelry, data from Adobe Analytics showed.