Dive Brief:

• This past weekend saw a record number of shoppers still tending to their holiday shopping, according to several studies and many anecdotes.

• Almost 25% of shoppers waited until this weekend to finish up, hoping for better prices, according to the National Retail Federation. Retale, a location-based app that that works with retailers to send shoppers deals to their phones, similarly found that 20% of American adults would be waiting till the days just before Christmas to shop.

• Retale’s survey of 1,000 men and women also found that 58% of those waiting until the last minute were using mobile in their efforts, with 88% of last-minute mobile-using shoppers doing so to check extended hours and sales. The survey looks at last-minute shopping behavior during the holiday season, polling 1,000 adult men and women.

Dive Insight:

Retailers with extended pre-Christmas hours, and especially those with price promotions, look like they’ll rounding out their sales accomplishments. But that of course will have its price, as savvy shoppers use their phones to suss out the best prices and keep retailers over the barrel by waiting until the last minute.

Some observers believe that the early jump on promotions well before Black Friday may have diluted consumers expectations for that big shopping weekend, and also may have helped establish a highly promotional environment for the rest of the season.