148 mn Americans plan to shop on last pre-Christmas Saturday: Survey

“Retailers began preparations for the holiday season months in advance, offering seasonal inventory early and taking preventative measures to circumvent supply chain challenges exacerbated by the pandemic,” NRF president and chief executive officer Matthew Shay said in a release.

“Consumers have responded with a growing eagerness to kick off the holiday shopping season early, and they expect to carry that momentum through the last few weeks of the year,” he added.

With the date falling exactly one week before Christmas, the number of anticipated Super Saturday shoppers is the third-highest reported since NRF began tracking this figure in 2016. Just over a quarter of consumers (27 per cent) plan to shop exclusively in store and another third (32 per cent) plan to shop online only. However, most (41 per cent) expect to use a combination of the two channels.

While consumers plan to spend a total of $997.73 on holiday purchases this year, as of early December, they had completed roughly half (52 per cent) of their holiday shopping. Still, many are aiming to wrap up their shopping early, with a record 42 per cent planning to purchase their last gift before December 18.

This figure is up from 40 per cent a year ago and 30 per cent in 2012 when NRF first asked this question. Even so, some procrastinators remain. More than half (52 per cent) expect they will still be picking up last minute gifts in the week leading up to Christmas, the survey found.

Retailer efforts to mitigate the impact of supply chain challenges appear to have paid off. The majority (71 per cent) of holiday shoppers say they have been able to find the items they are looking for most or all of the time. And optimism is high, with two-thirds (67 per cent) indicating they are confident or very confident they will be able to find the gifts and other items needed for the holiday season this year.

As expected, holiday shopping will continue into the new year. The survey found that 65 per cent of holiday shoppers plan to shop during the week immediately following Christmas. The top reasons consumers plan to shop during this time are to take advantage of deals and promotions (42 per cent) and to use gift cards (24 per cent).

NRF defines the holiday season as November 1 to December 31 and has forecast that holiday sales will grow between 8.5 per cent and 10.5 per cent over 2020 to between $843.4 billion and $859 billion. The 2021 holiday season appears to be on track to reach as high as 11.5 per cent growth over last year, the NRF press release added.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)