IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
More than 148 million people plan to shop the Saturday before Christmas, either in-store or online, according to the National Retail Federation.
That would be a drop of about two million shoppers from last year’s “Super Saturday,” the Washington, D.C.-based trade association reported as the holiday shopping season approached its last phase.
“Retailers began preparations for the holiday season months in advance, offering seasonal inventory early and taking preventative measures to circumvent supply chain challenges exacerbated by the pandemic,” said Matthew Shay, federation president and chief executive officer, said in a statement. “Consumers have responded with a growing eagerness to kick off the holiday shopping season early, and they expect to carry that momentum through the last few weeks of the year.”
This is the third-highest Super Saturday forecast since the federation began making that prediction in 2016. Twenty seven percent of consumers say they will shop exclusively in-store, while 32 percent plan to shop exclusively online.
Forty one percent plan to shop for gifts both ways, according to the federation.
