Last minute US shoppers to make most of Christmas Eve sales

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Dec 23, 2016

The National Retail Federation projected that an estimated 156 million Americans would shop on Super Saturday. The number would not only surpass last year’s Super Saturday but also this year’s Thanksgiving weekend. Despite the millions of Americans that shopped during Thanksgiving weekend and Super Saturday, many shoppers have held off to the last minute and hope to capitalize on last minute sales on Christmas Eve.

“Even with the long holiday season this year, a fifth of adults plan to shop up until Christmas Eve” said Tom McGee, President and CEO of ICSC. “With so much last minute shopping, I expect that many consumers will take advantage of local merchants and omnichannel retailers, either going to stores so they can get the merchandise right away or leveraging click and collect.”

According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, 20% of adults plan to shop for holiday gifts or holiday-related items on Christmas Eve. 34% of millennials plan to shop on Christmas Eve followed by 21% of Generation X and 10% of Baby Boomers.

The study also found that 11% of adults plan to shop only in stores while 4% of adults plan to shop only online.

The NRF reported this month that many shoppers are excited for post-Christmas sales. 48% of shoppers plan to take advantage of after-Christmas sales and 44% plan to shop online.