According to the results of a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics, more than half of consumers have already started their holiday shopping and nearly a quarter of purchases have already been made.

When asked during the first week of November if they had already begun their holiday shopping, 56 percent said they had.

“This is further evidence that the holiday season has grown far beyond the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas,” says NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “Thanksgiving is still a hallmark of the season, and there’s billions of dollars in shopping still to come. But many consumers have already been shopping for weeks, and retailers are increasingly adapting to that.”

The earlier start to shopping can attributed, in part, to smart strategy. 39 percent of holiday shoppers planned to start before November this year, saying they wanted to spread out their budgets and avoid both crowds and last-minute stress.

“Consumers don’t wait for Thanksgiving or Black Friday anymore and neither do retailers,” says Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist. “Retailers responded this year by offering promotions earlier than ever, with some rolling out holiday deals even before Halloween.”

Despite this, the NRF estimates that 165.3 million people will shop in stores and online from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. Special deals and the tradition of holiday shopping will be the primary motivators.