Super Saturday expected to draw record number of shoppers

The news: Over 158 million consumers are expected to shop on Super Saturday, the last Saturday before Christmas Eve, per the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics. That’s 10 million more than last year, and the most since the NRF began keeping track in 2016.

  • Of those consumers, almost half (46%) plan to shop both in-store and online. Slightly more people plan to shop only in-store (28%) than only online (27%).

How retailers are responding: Unsurprisingly, Amazon, Target, and Walmart are taking the opportunity to roll out more holiday sales in a bid to attract shoppers.

  • Amazon is hosting a “Very Merry Deals” promotion from December 12 through December 21, with new deals being added each day to attract last-minute holiday shoppers.
  • Target is offering consumers a whole host of discounts from December 17 to December 24 on categories including kitchen appliances, toys, and video games. The retailer is also giving shoppers who place orders before 6pm on Christmas Eve free same-day in-store and curbside pickup options.
  • Not to be left out, Walmart is holding a “Save Big” sales event with discounts on thousands of items from toys and clothes to food and seasonal decor.

The big takeaway: This holiday season has been characterized by deal-seeking behavior. Big sales in October by Amazon, Target, and Walmart led some shoppers to pull forward their holiday spending, while most seem to have waited for deeper discounts during the Cyber Five and the week leading up to Christmas to snag items at the lowest price.

That’s why we expect US holiday sales to grow just 7.0% this year, below inflation.

This article originally appeared in Insider Intelligence's Retail & Ecommerce Briefing—a daily recap of top stories reshaping the retail industry. Subscribe to have more hard-hitting takeaways delivered to your inbox daily.

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