An increased number of shoppers shopped at brick & mortar stores in the final days before the holiday, according to a new report from market research provider The NPD Group, Inc. The new Shopping Activity Weekly Holiday Trends Report for the week ending December 26, 2011 showed an increase in the number of shoppers in the market, with 69% of U.S. consumers going shopping at brick & mortar retail compared to 68% the prior week.

The week’s results show that overall brick & mortar shopping visits increased by 6.5% during this period, but despite the increase in the number of shoppers in the market, brick & mortar shopping conversion remained relatively stable, according to NPD analysts. (The Shopping Conversion Rate is NPD’s measure of shoppers engaged in the shopping experience and making a purchase.)

“The stability in the conversion rate is a good sign that holiday held its own this year,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst, at The NPD Group Inc. “With so much of the season being front loaded with “self-gifting” it would have been easy for the consumer to be ‘tapped out’ and forego some important gift shopping for those on their list. But they shopped for those on their list and showed it in their shopping conversion rates in brick & mortar stores.”

For the week ending December 26, 2011 Shopping Activity Weekly Holiday Trends report looks at shopping visits and shopping conversion for individual general merchandise retail channels. It was vertical retailers that posted the highest increases this week. In addition to the increase in brick & mortar shopping visits during this week the average amount spent per buying visit was up 4.7 percent, from the prior week. This increase in spending is the largest week over week increase reported since the week of November 28th, which included Black Friday. Online shopping activity continued its decline. For the week ending December 26, 2011 online share of buying visits declined to 13.9 percent, down from 16.4 percent the prior week.

“‘Christmas Crunch time’ (the final week before Christmas) gave a nice boost to brick & mortar stores. While online saw its usual drop off as shipping dates for guaranteed delivery passed the prior week,” said Cohen. “Online still had a healthy level of shoppers. So what does all this mean? Retailers had a nice Christmas, with a full load of shoppers, buyers and online visitors.”

Cohen also noted that the front loaded holiday this year will likely take its biggest toll on the back end or the post-holiday period. He predicts shoppers will be ‘bought out’ or even ‘tapped out’ after the first week in January. “This fourth period of the holiday retail season this year, will be the place where we see the consumer pulling back,” he said.