The National Retail Federation expects more than 158 million consumers to shop on Super Saturday this year, 10 million more than on the comparable pre-holiday day in 2021.
This year, December 17 has been tabbed by retail observers as Super Saturday, the final full-shopping-day Saturday before Christmas. The date this year accounts for Christmas Eve falling on a Saturday.
According to the annual survey released today by the NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics, the number of potential Super Saturday shoppers is the highest number since the organization first started tracking data on the date in 2016. Of the 158.5 million anticipated Super Saturday shoppers, 28% plan to shop only in stores, 27% plan to shop only online and 46% plan to shop both in stores and online, according to NRF.
Consistent with recent years, holiday shoppers said they had completed about 53% of their purchases as of early December. They plan to finish their holiday purchases online, 47%, at department stores, 37%, at discount stores 27%, at clothing/accessories stores, 24%, and at grocery stores, 19%.
This year, 28% of holiday shoppers plan to give an experiential gift such as tickets to a concert or sporting event, a gym membership, a spa service or an art class. The figure is up from 23% last year and is the highest proportion since NRF began asking consumers about experiential gifts in 2015, it noted. Also, 70% of respondents said their shopping plans include purchasing after December 25, on par with pre-pandemic levels for post-Christmas shopping.
The top gifts consumers have bought so far include clothing, 50%, toys, 34%, gift cards, 28%, books and other media, 26%, and food or candy, 23%.
NRF pointed out that how consumers prefer to pay for holiday purchases is changing: 52% of survey respondents said they are using alternative payments or digital wallets, up from 44% in 2021 and 39% in 2019. The most common alternative payment service is PayPal, at 32%, followed by Apple Pay, at 14% and CashApp, at 12%. The survey indicated that 76% of consumers aged 18 to 24 have used an alternative payment method or digital wallet so far this holiday shopping season.
“Consumers have been shopping in record numbers this year, purchasing holiday items for friends and loved ones,” NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay said. “With Super Saturday falling eight days before Christmas, retailers are prepared to help shoppers fulfill their last-minute purchases that will make this holiday season memorable.”
Prosper’s Phil Rist, executive vice president, strategy, added, “Strong shopping is expected after Christmas as holiday shoppers aim to take advantage of retailers’ sales and promotions.”
NRF defines the holiday shopping season as November 1 through December 31 and has forecast that retail sales will grow between 6% and 8% versus 2021 to between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion.
