Record number of people to shop on Super Saturday

Super Saturday — the last Saturday before Christmas— is expected to be very busy this year, online and in store.

More than 150 million U.S. consumers plan to shop on Super Saturday this year, up from 147.8 million in 2019, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Retail Federation. NRF surveyed 8,092 consumers from Nov. 25 through Dec. 4, in partnership with Prosper Insights & Analytics.

The number of anticipated shoppers (including online and in-store) on the last Saturday before Christmas is the second-highest reported since NRF began tracking the metric in 2016. Of those planning to shop, 42% intend to do so solely online. 

In related findings, Customer Growth Partners forecasts https://chainstoreage.com/super-saturday-heres-what-retailers-should-expect that Super Saturday sales will reach $36.1 billion, surpassing Super Saturday in 2019, at $34.4 billion, and 2018, at $31.9 billion.  

Last year Super Saturday occurred just a few days before Christmas. But this year it falls nearly a week before the Christmas holiday, giving shoppers a few extra days to complete purchases. Similar to last year, 54% of holiday shoppers plan to purchase their last gift during the week leading up to Christmas.

Other finding from the survey are below.

•    A majority (52%) of holiday shoppers plan to do the remainder of their shopping online. Other top destinations include department stores (30%), discount stores (20%), clothing and accessories stores (20%) and electronics stores (17%).

•    Top gift purchases so far included clothing and accessories (45 percent), toys (29%), gift cards (28%), books and other media (27%) and electronics (23%). 

•    Just 21% of holiday shoppers plan to give a “gift of experience” this year, down from 25% in 2019 and the lowest since NRF first asked the question in 2015.

•    Shopping will continue into the new year. The survey found that 66% of holiday shoppers will likely shop in the week immediately following Christmas. 

The top reasons consumers plan to shop during the last week of December are to take advantage of post-holiday sales and promotions (45%) and use gift cards (27%).