Weekdays Following Black Friday Weekend Among Best to Shop, ShopperTrak Predicts

CHICAGO, Nov. 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- There are popular days to shop during the holiday season – and then there are the best days. With smaller crowds, the weekdays immediately following "Black Weekend" will be some of the best days to hit stores this year for those who like to avoid the crowds.

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ShopperTrak, the leading provider of shopper analytics, has identified the 10 days between Thanksgiving and Christmas likely to have the least amount of in-store holiday shopper traffic, making them the best days to shop for consumers looking to do their shopping in a less frenzied environment.

"There's a reason Black Friday and the Saturday before Christmas attract the heaviest crowds – retailers flood consumers with discounts and special offers on those days," says ShopperTrak Founder and Executive Vice President Bill Martin. "But quieter shopping days also present their fair share of deals for consumers, along with more attentive customer service and a leisurely shopping experience."

ShopperTrak predicts that Wednesday, Dec. 4, will be the best day to shop this holiday season with the least amount of store shopper traffic. Three other days that same week – Dec. 2 (Monday), Dec. 3 (Tuesday) and Dec. 6 (Friday) – also garnered top spots as some of the best days to shop this year. These weekdays immediately follow Black Friday weekend, which ShopperTrak anticipates will be among the busiest days for retail shopper traffic and sales. Given their proximity to Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a good selection of merchandise likely will remain in the stores for retailers working to capture those sales.

Smaller crowds, intent shoppers, attentive staff
Historically, the majority of shoppers flock to malls on the weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas. With four weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year – compared to five weekends in 2012 – consumers will have fewer weekend days to complete their holiday shopping. The weekdays will see stores with fewer crowds and more attentive sales staff offering shoppers an opportunity to complete some of their holiday shopping without competing with the crowds.

Despite lower store shopper traffic, weekdays provide an opportunity for retailers to promote and move merchandise that remains after weekends.

"Consumers are often more alert to sales and promotions than if they shopped on chaotic weekend days," says Martin. "Retailers can use traffic benchmarking reports and real-time analytics to better prepare their store and staff to seize selling opportunities on these slower-traffic days and turn browsers into buyers."

The following table shows ShopperTrak's forecasted best days to shop, ranked from least-to-most retail shopper traffic:

About ShopperTrak

ShopperTrak is the leading global provider of shopper insights and analytics to improve retail profitability and effectiveness. Retailers rely on ShopperTrak for the most comprehensive and integrated solution for accurate retail store traffic counting, interior analytics and industry benchmarking to better understand in-store shopper behavior. More than 750 of the world's leading retail brands have ShopperTrak services deployed in over 60,000 locations across 90 countries and territories. The Chicago-based company has more than 200 employees, with offices in San Francisco; High Wycombe, England; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Shenzhen, China; and Helsinki, Finland. Find out more at http://www.shoppertrak.com.

SOURCE ShopperTrak