ShopperTrak: Black Friday to reign supreme; new date for Super Saturday

Black Friday may have lost some of its allure in recent years, but it still comes out on top in a ranking of the busiest shopping days.



Black Friday, which falls on Nov. 25 this year, took the No. 1 spot in a ranking of the anticipated 10 busiest shopping days of 2016 by ShopperTrak, a Tyco Retail Solutions business unit. The second and third busiest shopping days are expected to be Monday, Dec. 26 and Friday, Dec. 23. (See end of article for the complete list.)



In a departure from recent past years, Super Saturday (the last Saturday before Christmas) is not expected to be a top ten busiest day because this year it falls directly on Christmas Eve. This shift will elevate the importance of Monday, Dec. 26 and Friday, Dec. 23, which are historically more significant shopping days when they either fall on a weekend or extend a weekend.



“This year, we are dubbing December 17 Super Saturday because we expect it to be the busiest Saturday of December,” said Brian Field, senior director of advisory services at ShopperTrak. “However, it will be no match for Black Friday, which will be the busiest shopping day of the holiday season.”



ShopperTrak found that operating on Thanksgiving Day impacts primarily the distribution of traffic, rather than the overall traffic count.



“Based on our findings, it’s clear that Thanksgiving Day openings may risk more in operating costs than in expanding sales opportunities,” Field said. Not to mention, opening on Thanksgiving has serious implications on staff morale.



Here is ShopperTrak’s list of the predicted busiest shopping days of the upcoming season:



1. Friday, Nov. 25

2. Monday, Dec. 26

3. Friday, Dec. 23

4. Saturday, Dec. 17

5. Saturday, Dec. 10

6. Saturday, Nov. 26

7. Thursday, Dec. 22

8. Saturday, Dec. 3

9. Sunday, Dec. 18

10. Wednesday, Dec. 21