Super Saturday Sets One-Day U.S. Sales Record of $34.4 Billion
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Forget Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Super Saturday just made history, shattering single-day U.S. sales records. According to retail consulting and research firm Consumer Growth Partners, sales reached $34.4 billion, handily besting last year’s record of $31.9 billion. CGP had forecast $34 billion for the day, including both online and brick-and-mortar sales.
Super Saturday sales were 10% above Black Friday’s $31.2 billion total. Cyber Monday, meanwhile, netted $19.1 billion, while sales on Dec. 14 hit $28.1 billion.
“Paced by the ‘Big Four’ mega-retailers — Walmart, Amazon, Costco and Target — Super Saturday was boosted by the best traffic our team has seen in years,” said Craig Johnson, CGP’s president. “The spending momentum was so strong that even the long-ailing department stores had their best weekend of the season.”
Johnson said Saturday’s historic retail sales were driven in large part by a strong economy that’s seen higher levels of employment and wage growth, along with healthy household finances. Other contributors included a major promotional blitz from many retailers, favorable weather conditions that encouraged foot traffic and a late Hanukkah.
Although transaction velocity spiked across most retail channels, off-price stores were the big winners. Footfall was still down at many malls across the country; however, conversion rates (the percentage of people who go to malls and make a purchase) increased, offsetting the weakness. CGP also found that women shopped in larger numbers than men and that spending on tech products displaced apparel.
As retailers close out the year on a high note, they still have a bit more time to boost their coffers. “The week between Christmas and New Year’s is now the third-biggest week of the season,” Johnson noted. “The question now is whether today’s stellar momentum leads to sustained economic growth into 2020 and beyond.”
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