Study: Holiday shoppers were on hunt for bargains

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Study: Holiday shoppers were on hunt for bargains

January 05, 2009

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Season's first shopping days see sales surge

Chicago--Consumers flooded stores in the days leading up to, and immediately following, Dec. 25, looking to get the most bang for their buck this holiday season, data complied by ShopperTrak shows.

Chicago-based ShopperTrak's Retail Traffic Index showed that on a week-over-week basis, Christmas week foot traffic showed a significant increase of 15.5 percent over the week ending Dec. 20, as procrastinating shoppers flooded stores looking for deeply discounted items and last-minute deals on the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before the holiday, and redeemed gift cards on Friday, the day after Christmas.

In addition, ShopperTrak's Retail Sales Estimate showed that Christmas week sales increased 12.4 percent, compared with the week ending Dec. 20.

"Annually, we see a boost just prior to Christmas from procrastinating shoppers, and that trend continued [Christmas] week despite the various economic pressures on the American consumer," ShopperTrak Co-founder Bill Martin said in a media release. "Both the traffic and sales results of this past week indicate efficient shoppers were focusing their retail visits to stores offering value for their money with deeply discounted items, which we've seen throughout the 2008 season."

On a year-over-year basis, however, Christmas week foot traffic actually declined 4.9 percent this year, compared with the same period in 2007, but that downturn was slight compared with the dramatic declines in foot traffic retailers had experienced to date during this holiday season.

Despite Christmas week's strong performance, ShopperTrak predicts overall holiday sales will decline 2.3 percent, and foot traffic will be down 16 percent, an increase from the company's previous forecasts.

"We expect retail performance will dive over the next couple of weeks as retailers stop offering deeply discounted items and sales, and traffic levels return to seasonal low points following the holidays," Martin said. "Looking ahead, retailers will most likely need to get creative to avoid the struggles most analysts have predicted in Q1 as the current economy continues to influence consumer behavior and shopping patterns."

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