No surprise — Black Friday will be the busiest shopping day of the 2021 holiday season, according to Sensormatic Solutions. More interesting, though, are the other shopping days in the top 10:
- Friday, Nov. 26
- Saturday, Dec. 18
- Thursday, Dec. 23
- Saturday, Dec. 11
- Sunday, Dec. 26
- Wednesday, Dec. 22
- Saturday, Nov. 27
- Saturday, Dec. 4
- Tuesday, Dec. 21
- Sunday, Dec. 19
“While COVID-19 is still making headlines as we head into the holidays, vaccine availability and retailers’ health and safety measures have put us in a different place with many consumers more comfortable shopping in stores compared to the 2020 holiday season,” said Bjoern Petersen, president of Sensormatic Solutions. “Through this busy time, retailers can lean heavily on innovative technology to keep shelves stocked, predict and prevent loss events, and keep customers safe through occupancy monitoring and resulting social distancing. Leveraging prescriptive insights provided by connected solutions, retailers can also ensure they’re reaching the right consumer with the right item at the right time throughout the season.”
On average, the top 10 busiest shopping days in the U.S. account for approximately 40 percent of all holiday retail traffic. Sensormatic Solutions predicts that U.S. in-store traffic for this year’s holiday season will be down by between ten and 15 percent from 2019. Total in-store retail traffic year-to-date in the U.S. is down 18.6 percent compared to 2019. Sensormatic says that traffic has improved slightly since the beginning of August, though, trending down 15.1 percent from 2019.
“Our predicted busiest days mark the peaks of in-store traffic, but we expect that like last year, consumers will start their shopping earlier to offset inventory limitations shipping delays and ongoing concerns about social distancing,” said Brian Field, senior director, Global Retail Consulting Practice, Sensormatic Solutions. “Additionally, with Christmas Day on a Saturday for the first time since 2010, and stores closed that day to observe the holiday, we expect more holiday shopper traffic than usual will occur in the days leading up to Christmas and on December 26.”
Sensormatic’s annual predictions are informed by retail traffic data analytics within the company’s intelligent operating platform, Sensormatic IQ.
