• by Sarah Mahoney  @mahoney_sarah, December 20, 2022

The ICSC says 189 million people went shopping on Super Saturday, delivering a traffic win to the thousands of retailers hoping for happy holidays. That represents roughly 73% of consumers. Of that total,  71% bought holiday gifts, while 40% spent on dining,  and 22% paid for entertainment.

And 70% of consumers shopped in physical stores, while 29% bought from Amazon or other pure-play online retailers.

“Shoppers frequented stores on Super Saturday, aiming to get the best deals and making sure they get their gifts on time before the holidays,” said Tom McGee, President and chief executive of ICSC, in its announcement. “While inflation and price concerns still impact where and how consumers buy gifts, they are still spending, particularly at physical stores. We expect last-minute shopping to continue this week and anticipate a strong conclusion to the holiday season.”  

The research, based on 1,000 respondents, finds that the primary reason people shopped was to take advantage of deals and promotions for lower prices, a factor named by 39%, while 37% said they still had more people to buy gifts for, and 33% said they shopped to purchase additional gifts for people.

The survey also probed factors shaping people’s spending plans and found that 90% say inflation impacted their decision to shop that day. Specifically, 51% named the lowest prices as important,  46% named in-stock products,  and 36% cited ease of checkout as the main determinants of where to shop.

About half say they bought online and picked up the order in-store.

A slim majority -- 54% -- spent more than they had planned. About 56% shopped with debit cards, 47% with credit cards, and 46% with cash.