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People look at Christmas decorations in the windows of the Country store on Main Street in Stockbridge, Massachusetts on December 13, 2020.
Joseph Precious | AFP | Getty Images
Procrastinators are still plentiful this holiday season, a new survey shows, though retailers ranging from Target to Best Buy are trying to encourage consumers to shop earlier than ever to avoid crowded stores and overdue warehouses in stores. last days before Christmas.
More than 150 million Americans plan to shop on the last Saturday before Christmas, up slightly from 147.8 million in 2019, according to a survey released Thursday by the National Retail Federation. NRF surveyed 8,092 consumers from November 25 to December 4, as part of a partnership with Prosper Insights & Analytics.
The number of shoppers expected on this day, known as “Super Saturday,” includes those planning to shop in-store and buy online, NRF said. The trade group said this was the second highest figure reported since NRF started tracking Super Saturday statistics in 2016. Last year, Super Saturday fell just four days before Christmas, but this year is almost a week before the holidays.
Its survey also found that among people planning to shop on Super Saturday this year, 42% plan to do so online only, avoiding crowded malls and stores.
The fact that record numbers of U.S. consumers will take advantage of the coming weekend to finish buying gifts will put additional pressure on retailers and carriers, including UPS and FedEx, which have already been strained by the glut of online orders during the pandemic. Some industry experts have coined the pressures the industry faces this holiday season as “shipageddon”.
Last Tuesday also marked the official shutdown in the United States for standard ground shipping, to receive items by December 24, for UPS, FedEx and the United States Postal Service. From there, the delivery surcharges skyrocket for speedy delivery. And even so, buyers who plan to buy online in the next few days are at risk of their items not arriving on time as promised due to the high volumes.
In total, up to 7 million packages a day could experience delays between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas, according to Satish Jindel, president of ShipMatrix, a company that analyzes data from shipping packages.
And if shoppers are heading to stores this weekend, they should expect to queue. Many retailers have put capacity restrictions in place due to the pandemic.
Even with a few extra days between Super Saturday and Christmas this year, some consumers still won’t finish shopping for friends and family on time, which will impact the New Year.
Sixty-six percent of holiday shoppers will likely shop within the week immediately after Christmas, according to NRF. These people cited the typical plethora of post-holiday offers and wanted to use their gift cards as a reason to do so.
Overall, this holiday season, which NRF defines as November 1 to December 31, retail sales are expected to rise 3.6% to 5.2% from 2019 levels, totaling between 755.3 billion dollars and 766.7 billion dollars.
Read the full version of NRF’s Super Saturday here.
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