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Busiest in-store shopping days of peak trading revealled

Super Saturday (21 December), the last Saturday trading day before Christmas, is once again positioned to be the UK’s busiest shopping day of the festive period on the High Street, according to ShopperTrak analysis.

Last year, Super Saturday represented a £1.4bn sales opportunity for UK retailers and saw footfall on the High Street surge by 45% on the daily average.

Whilst Black Friday (29 November) itself doesn’t rank in the top five busiest days, 30 November (Saturday after Black Friday) is expected to be the second busiest shopping day of the entire Christmas period, demonstrating the continued importance of the discount day in driving in-store footfall and building momentum into the peak season.

Historical analysis also suggests that with only three Saturdays in December before Christmas, footfall in-store on these days will be more pronounced, accounting for Saturday 14 December and Saturday 7 December making the top 5 busiest days, at 3rd and 4th place respectively.

Boxing Day will remain a key date in the Christmas retail calendar for 2019; last year Brits spent £4.75billion in Boxing Day sales, with every 3 in 4 pounds spent in-store. However, with Boxing Day (26 December) falling on a Thursday this year, it is anticipated that the peak in shopper traffic will take place the following day, on Friday 27 December, as shoppers make the most of taking an extra day off to extend the Christmas break, allowing them to shop or return gifts.

Nick Pompa, Global General Manager at ShopperTrak, commented: “The top shopping days of Christmas represent a key sales opportunity for UK retailers, and it’s clear that the physical store remains critical to Golden Quarter success. And this means the imperative is on retailers to prioritise in-store customer engagement during this critical trading period as an effective way to drive sales, customer retention and brand sentiment.”

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This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chelsea Reay .