• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, December 14, 2023

The National Retail Federation expects Super Saturday, aka. the last Saturday before Christmas, will see a surge in in-store shopping. Of the 142 million people predicted to finish their holiday shopping, 53 million intend to do all their buying in stores, up from 44 million last year. And 58 million, or 41% of the total, plan to shop online and in stores.

By landing on Dec. 23, the big day will benefit from seasonal sloth, being the favorite shopping day of the year for all those who prefer to procrastinate. The last time Super Saturday happened on Dec. 23 was in 2017, when 126 million people planned to shop.

“This year, Super Saturday is truly aligned for last-minute shoppers,” said Phil Rist, executive vice president of strategy at Prosper Insights & Analytics, which conducted the survey for NRF, in the report. “Most consumers also plan on purchasing their last gift in the week leading up to Christmas.” 

NRF’s previous research indicated that more consumers were shopping later, hoping to get a better deal. Of those shopping during Thanksgiving weekend, 85% told the NRF they expected better markdowns to materialize as the weeks passed.

As of early December, the NRF found that people have gotten close to halfway through their lists, with 50% buying clothing, 34% buying toys, 27% picking up gift cards, 24% purchasing books and other media, and 23% buying beauty or personal care products.

Retailers are ready for them. Target, for example, says customers can place orders as late as 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve for same-day services. And they have until 4 p.m. that day to get one-hour delivery.

Target is also unwrapping new deals, including $5-and-under stocking stuffers, $10 back for people who buy $50 worth of toys, and up to $100 off some Apple products.

Walmart also unwrapped a slate of new promotions, including “Ready, Set, Gift!” deals like Lenovo IdeaPads at $349 instead of $699.

The final sprint comes as consumer spending is gaining strength, aided by growing confidence and lower gas prices. The latest CNBC/NRF poll reports that total retail sales, excluding automobiles and gasoline, rose 0.77% month-over-month in November and climbed 4.24% year-over-year.

That’s slightly above the 3% to 4% increase the NRF predicted earlier in the season.

Mastercard SpendingPulse is tracking similar increases and now expects a rise of 3.7% in November and December holiday sales.