RetailNext – Black Friday to be busiest shopping day of 2014

San Jose, Calif. – Black Friday (Nov. 28) is expected to be the busiest shopping day of 2014. According to data from in-store analytics provider RetailNext, it will be followed in order by four days in December: Dec. 20, 21, 13 and 19.

For the broader holiday period spanning November and December 2014, RetailNext predicts store traffic will be down 4% from the 2013 holiday period, while sales will be flat to 1% lower, conversions will be up 0.5% and average transaction value will rise 3.5%.



RetailNext feels that although November started off on a more difficult footing because Halloween fell on the Friday before the first holiday shopping weekend (the first Saturday in November, Nov. 1, saw sales down 10% on a 7.8% decrease in traffic), this will make for a particularly strong Thanksgiving weekend. RetailNext also anticipates a stronger Thanksgiving Day than the previous year, which may offset softer sales later on Thanksgiving weekend.



Given that Christmas falls on a Thursday this year, RetailNext expects a particularly strong post-Christmas period (Dec. 26-28) compared to the prior year.