NEW YORK, Nov. 19, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Most Americans won't shop on either Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year, according to a new Bankrate.com (NYSE: RATE) report. Millennials are the most likely to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

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In fact, contrary to their tech-savvy reputation, 18-29 year-olds are more likely to shop in stores on Black Friday than online. Millennials are 13 percentage points more likely to set foot in a store on Black Friday than older adults. They are also the most likely to shop online on both days, but by a smaller margin.

Just 28% of Americans plan to shop in a store on Black Friday. Including online shoppers, 40% of Americans expect to do some holiday shopping on Black Friday. They anticipate spending an average of $399 per shopper, with a median of $200.

"Consumers are well-aware that deep discounts will be offered throughout the holiday shopping season," said Bankrate.com analyst Jeanine Skowronski. "They don't necessarily need to brave the Black Friday crowds to score them."

Only one in four Americans anticipate making an online purchase on Cyber Monday. The average planned expenditure is slightly lower than on Black Friday ($361); the $200 median is the same. Men are marginally more likely to shop on Black Friday and Cyber Monday than women.

38% of in-store Black Friday shoppers say they will pay with cash, 34% plan to use debit cards and 24% are likely to use credit cards.

For online purchases on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, 46% expect to pay with credit cards and 43% expect to pay with debit cards.

"Online shopping is one of the riskiest ways to use a debit card," Skowronski warned. "Credit cards offer better consumer protections. This is especially important given all of the data breaches that have occurred over the past couple of years."

The survey was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International (PSRAI) and can be seen in its entirety here:

http://www.bankrate.com/finance/smart-spending/is-black-friday-dead.aspx

PSRAI obtained telephone interviews with a nationally representative sample of 1,000 adults living in the continental United States. Interviews were conducted by landline (500) and cell phone (500, including 287 without a landline phone) in English and Spanish by Princeton Data Source from October 30 - November 2, 2014. Statistical results are weighted to correct known demographic discrepancies. The margin of sampling error for the complete set of weighted data is plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

About Bankrate, Inc.
Bankrate is a leading publisher, aggregator and distributor of personal finance content on the Internet. Bankrate provides consumers with proprietary, fully researched, comprehensive, independent and objective personal finance editorial content across multiple vertical categories including mortgages, deposits, insurance, credit cards, and other categories, such as retirement, automobile loans, taxes and senior living. The Bankrate network includes Bankrate.com, CreditCards.com, InsuranceQuotes.com and Caring.com, our flagship websites, and other owned and operated personal finance websites, including Interest.com, Bankaholic.com, Mortgage-calc.com, CreditCardGuide.com, CarInsuranceQuotes.com, CreditCards.ca, and NetQuote.com. Bankrate aggregates rate information from over 4,800 institutions on more than 300 financial products. With coverage of over 600 local markets in all 50 U.S. states, Bankrate generates over 172,000 distinct rate tables capturing, on average, over three million pieces of information weekly. Bankrate develops and provides web services to over 75 co-branded websites with online partners, including some of the most trusted and frequently visited personal finance sites on the Internet such as Yahoo!, CNN Money, CNBC and Comcast. In addition, Bankrate licenses editorial content to over 100 newspapers on a daily basis including The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times and The Boston Globe.

For more information:

Ted Rossman
Public Relations Manager
ted.rossman@bankrate.com
(917) 368-8635

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SOURCE Bankrate, Inc.