2018 Holiday Shopper Traffic Was a Gift to Retailers

In-store shopper numbers demonstrate the importance of last-minute holiday shopping for brick-and-mortar

NEUHAUSEN, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ShopperTrak, a Tyco Retail Solutions’ brand, today announced results of shopper traffic and behavior trends during the 2018 holiday season, the period spanning from the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 18, 2018, through Saturday, Dec. 29, 2018. Traffic data shows that ShopperTrak’s initial prediction of the top 10 busiest shopping days aligned with the actual busiest days in-store, with only one change in the order of significance with Dec. 1, versus Dec. 29 rounding out the list. Altogether, the actual busiest shopping days of 2018 accounted for 40 percent of the total season’s brick-and-mortar traffic.

Predicted 2018 Busiest Shopping Days	Actual 2018 Busiest Shopping Days
1. Friday, Nov. 23 – Black Friday	1. Friday, Nov. 23 – Black Friday
2. Saturday, Dec. 22 – Super Saturday	2. Saturday, Dec. 22 – Super Saturday
3. Saturday, Dec. 15	3. Saturday, Dec. 15
4. Sunday, Dec. 23	4. Sunday, Dec. 23
5. Saturday, Nov. 24	5. Saturday, Nov. 24
6. Saturday, Dec. 8	6. Saturday, Dec. 8
7. Friday, Dec. 21	7. Friday, Dec. 21
8. Wednesday, Dec. 26	8. Wednesday, Dec. 26
9. Saturday, Dec. 1	9. Saturday, Dec. 29
10. Saturday, Dec. 29	10. Saturday, Dec. 1

The end of December traffic was successful for brick-and-mortar retailers. ShopperTrak found that Dec. 22, also known as Super Saturday, surpassed traffic numbers with a 2.3 percent increase compared to 2017. Additionally, the combined three days leading up to Christmas Day this year (Saturday through Monday) resulted in a 3.8 percent increase in traffic compared to the three day lead up last year (Friday through Sunday). Finally, the last 10 days of the total shopping season, Dec. 20-29, increased by 0.3 percent year-over-year.

Overall, the total holiday traffic (Nov.18-Dec.29), was down 3 percent year-over-year, which is favorable compared to the full-year traffic trend pre-holiday, down 3.8 percent.

“While holiday traffic was down overall, the fact that Christmas Day came on a Tuesday, rather than a Monday, played a pivotal role in creating more last-minute shopping activity,” said Brian Field, senior director of global retail consulting for ShopperTrak. “This year, retailers promoted extended shopping hours for the entire weekend in-store helping attract more late shoppers and increase brick-and-mortar activity right before the holiday and continuing through the end of December.”

For more information on ShopperTrak’s 2018 holiday shopping predictions and holiday data, additional press releases are available here:

• Top 10 Busiest Days
• Thanksgiving & Black Friday Data
• Thanksgiving Week Data

About Johnson Controls
Johnson Controls is a global diversified technology and multi industrial leader serving a wide range of customers in more than 150 countries. Our 120,000 employees create intelligent buildings, efficient energy solutions, integrated infrastructure and next generation transportation systems that work seamlessly together to deliver on the promise of smart cities and communities. Our commitment to sustainability dates back to our roots in 1885, with the invention of the first electric room thermostat. We are committed to helping our customers win and creating greater value for all of our stakeholders through strategic focus on our buildings and energy growth platforms. For additional information, please visit http://www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us @johnsoncontrols on Twitter.

About Tyco Retail Solutions
Tyco Retail Solutions, part of Johnson Controls, is a leading provider of analytics-based Loss Prevention, Inventory Intelligence and Traffic Insights for the retail industry. Our solutions deliver real-time visibility and predictive analytics to help retailers maximize business outcomes and enhance the customer experience in a digitally-driven shopping world. Our more than 1.5 million data collection devices in the retail marketplace capture 40 billion shopper visits and track and protect billions of items each year. Our retail portfolio features the premier Sensormatic^®, ShopperTrak^® and TrueVUE^™ brands, as well as a full suite of building technology solutions. For more information, please visit TycoRetailSolutions.com, or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and our YouTube channel.