The Biggest Shopping Days of the Holiday Season Revealed

Sensormatic Solutions has released its annual traffic and behavior trends recap for the 2021 holiday season for the US and Canada. This includes the period of six weeks spanning from the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 21, 2021, through Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. The annual recap is informed by retail traffic data analytics within the company’s intelligent operating platform, Sensormatic IQ.

The final shopper traffic data showed that Sensormatic Solutions’ initial prediction of the top busiest shopper traffic days in the US aligned with the actual busiest days in stores. Sensormatic Solutions also originally predicted that the 10 busiest shopping days in the US would account for approximately 40 percent of all holiday traffic. Altogether, the actual busiest shopping days accounted for 35.8 percent of the total season’s brick-and-mortar traffic.

Traffic for the full six-week period was down to 19.5 percent in the US, compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. This is an improvement from 2020 when holiday traffic was down 33.1 percent compared to 2019.

“Although this was the second holiday season impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer shopping habits looked different than in years past, including 2020,” said Brian Field, senior director of global retail consulting, Sensormatic Solutions. “Despite ongoing concerns about the virus, our traffic data made it clear that consumers were more willing to return to stores this year. However, with ongoing supply chain disruptions and product shortages, we saw a noticeable shift in consumers who shopped earlier in the season. In the month of November, traffic was only down 18.1 percent compared to 2019, indicating slightly fewer consumers who left their shopping until the last few days as they had in years past.”

US Results

1. Friday, November 26 – Black Friday
2. Saturday, December 18 – Super Saturday
3. Thursday, December 23 – Thursday before Christmas
4. Saturday, December 11 – 2^nd Saturday in December
5. Saturday, November 27 – Saturday after Thanksgiving
6. Saturday, December 4 – 1^st Saturday in December
7. Sunday, December 19 – Sunday before Christmas
8. Wednesday, December 22 – Wednesday before Christmas
9. Monday, December 20 – Monday before Christmas
10. Tuesday, December 21 – Tuesday before Christmas

Predicted US Results

1. Friday, November 26 – Black Friday
2. Saturday, December 18 – Super Saturday
3. Thursday, December 23 – Thursday before Christmas
4. Saturday, December 11 – 2^nd Saturday in December
5. Sunday, December 26 – Day after Christmas, aka “Boxing Day”
6. Wednesday, December 22 – Wednesday before Christmas
7. Saturday, November 27 – Saturday after Thanksgiving
8. Saturday, December 4 – 1^st Saturday in December
9. Tuesday, December 21 – Tuesday before Christmas
10. Sunday, December 19 – Sunday before Christmas

“Though it did not make our initial list, we felt that the Monday leading into Christmas would be a strong day for in-store shopping and were not surprised when it overtook Sunday, December 26 for a place on the list of top ten busiest days in the US,” said Field. “Unlike prior holiday seasons in the US, none of the days following Christmas were among the top ten busiest in 2021.”

Canada Results

Sensormatic Solutions’ predictions for the busiest shopping days in Canada also closely aligned with the actual busiest days in-store

1. Friday, November 26 – Black Friday
2. Saturday, November 27 – Saturday after Black Friday
3. Sunday, December 26 – Boxing Day
4. Saturday, December 11 – 2^nd Saturday in December
5. Saturday, December 18 – Super Saturday

Predicted Canada Results

1. Friday, November 26 – Black Friday
2. Sunday, December 26 – Boxing Day
3. Saturday, November 27 – Saturday after Black Friday
4. Saturday, December 18 – Super Saturday
5. Saturday, December 11 – 2nd Saturday in December