The last Saturday before Christmas, Dec. 21, drove many shoppers to the store, with foot traffic surging compared to a typical Saturday in the holiday season. Beauty stores surpassed their pre-pandemic foot traffic levels, while department store foot traffic decreased 25% compared with Super Saturday 2019.
The Saturday before Christmas Day, Dec. 21, dubbed “Super Saturday,” continues to provide retailers with a surge of holiday store shoppers, with many merchants surpassing their pre-pandemic foot traffic levels, according to Placer.ai data.
“Super Saturday benefits from a unique and powerful combination of forces that drives visits from those seeking value to those seeking the urgent last-minute gift or pre-holiday item,” said Ethan Chernofsky, senior vice president of marketing at Placer.ai.
Placer.ai analyzes foot traffic at physical stores by using anonymized tracking on 10s of millions of U.S. smartphones. Figures are rounded.
Discount and dollar stores increased their foot traffic 21% compared with Super Saturday in 2019, and 28% compared with the average foot traffic on the previous six Saturdays (Saturdays, Nov. 9-Dec. 14.), according to Placer.ai data. Cosmetic stores were another big winner, with foot traffic increasing 38% compared with Super Saturday 2019, and 38% compared with its Saturday holiday season average.
Cosmetics retail chain Ulta specifically had a banner day, according to Placer.ai data. Foot traffic on Super Saturday increased:
- 50% compared with Super Saturday 2019.
- 74% compared with the previous six Saturdays’ average.
- 306% compared with its 2024 daily average of foot traffic Jan. 1-Dec. 20.
The holiday season is more than just Thanksgiving weekend
These results show that the holiday season lasting the two months of November and December is more than just the peak of the discount-focused Thanksgiving weekend, Chernofsky said.
As Christmas Day loomed closer, different types of retailers highlighted their unique value for the current state of the customer. For example, “one-stop shops” like Target and Walmart can shine catering to last-minute shoppers. And off-price merchants that are not as Black-Friday dominate, such as T.J. Maxx, HomeGoods and Burlington, also thrive during this weekend for their unique products at competitive prices, said R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai.
For example, on Dec. 21 Target’s foot traffic increased 52.1% compared with its Saturday holiday season average, 183% compared with its 2024 daily average and beat its 2019 Super Saturday foot traffic by 4.6%, according to Placer.ai.
As an off-price retailer example, T.J.Maxx’s foot traffic increased 55% compared with it Saturday holiday season average, 244% compared with its 2024 daily foot traffic rate, and increased 26% compared with 2019 Super Saturday.
Malls and department stores can’t match pre-pandemic levels
The urgency of the last Saturday before Christmas also drove shoppers to malls and department stores. Although, these shopping destinations did not match their pre-pandemic levels.
Department stores, for example, increased foot traffic 68% compared with their Saturday seasonal average, but foot traffic wad down 25% compared with Super Saturday 2019. Similarly, indoor malls increased their foot traffic 44% compared with the holiday season Saturday average, but was down 0.3% compared with Super Saturday 2019.
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