Super Saturday Expected to Take Top Spot this Holiday Season

Black Friday dethroned as #1 shopping day

This Saturday, November 1, marks the official start of the holiday shopping season. Retailers will begin donning their decorations and early promotions will be flooding in by the stroke of midnight following Halloween. The “Holiday Creep” has begun earlier each of the past several years, allowing November to gain momentum and close the gap from December in percentage of overall sales. Many attribute November’s higher sales to Black Friday, but, this year, ShopperTrak advises that may not be the case.

Since 2005, Black Friday has reigned supreme in both shopper visits and sales for the holiday season. Though Black Friday is still expected to account for a good portion of total holiday spending, Super Saturday – the last Saturday before Christmas – will edge it out this year. Thanksgiving Day shopping, though currently quite controversial, has had a heavy impact on this shift. More stores have announced they will open on Thanksgiving, and those that have done so in the past are extending hours. 

Founder Bill Martin discussed this trend with Kavita Kumar of the Star Tribune while attending the Shopper Marketing Conference & Expo last week, stating, “Our numbers show, over the last three years that Thursday sales are growing at a pretty rapid pace” he said. “It’s leaching sales from Black Friday.”

Calendar shift

Alongside a bigger Thanksgiving push, the lateness in which Black Friday falls may also impact the day’s total sales. Thanksgiving weekend will close out the month this year, and many shoppers will have begun checking off their lists before it arrives.

“Early promotions and more days to shop between Halloween and Black Friday will lead to earlier spending,” Martin said. “Retailers are anxious to get to the wallet before the money is gone.”

Furthermore, with Christmas Day falling on a Thursday, it is expected that December 26 will also see higher traffic.

“December 26 is traditionally a strong traffic day. By virtue of the fact that it falls on a Friday this year, many consumers will extend the holiday to create a long weekend. We expect this to lead to a flood of shoppers taking advantage of post-Christmas sales.”

Busiest Shopping Days

ShopperTrak is the leading global provider of location-based analytics, offering insights into consumer behavior to improve profitability and effectiveness. ShopperTrak customers gain insights through the use of Perimeter, Interior and Performance Analytics to better understand their customers, enabling them to enhance the shopping experience to increase traffic, conversion and transaction size.

With more than 1,000 of the world’s leading retailers, malls and entertainment venues, ShopperTrak deploys over 70,000 devices across 90 countries and territories. The Chicago-based company has more than 200 employees, with offices in San Francisco; High Wycombe, England; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Shenzhen, China; and Helsinki, Finland. Find out more at http://www.shoppertrak.com.

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