NEUHAUSEN, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Johnson Controls, a global leader for smart and sustainable buildings, and the architect of OpenBlue connected solutions, today announced that Sensormatic Solutions, its leading global retail solutions portfolio, released the annual traffic and behavior trends recap for the 2020 holiday season for the U.S. and Canada. This includes the period of six weeks spanning from the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 22, 2020, through Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021.
The final shopper traffic data showed that Sensormatic Solutions initial prediction of the top busiest shopper traffic days in the U.S. aligned with the actual busiest days in stores. Sensormatic also originally predicted that the 10 busiest shopping days would account for 34.2% of all holiday traffic compared to 46.5% in 2019. Altogether, the actual 2020 busiest shopping days accounted for 35.2% of the total season’s brick-and-mortar traffic.
Traffic for the full six week period was down -33.1% year-over-year. Sensormatic Solutions originally predicted in-store traffic for the six weeks of the season to be down between -22% and -25% year-over-year.
“We noticed a season-long shift of in-store traffic toward days that were perceived to be less busy,” said Amy Shulman, global head professional services, Sensormatic Solutions. “Although major shopping events, like Black Friday and Super Saturday, maintained their position atop the list of busiest shopping days, they actually saw the biggest drops in year-over-year shopper traffic. In contrast, we saw traffic trends only down -27% in the weeks preceding the holidays, confirming that consumers were shopping earlier this season than in past years.”
U.S. Results
Predicted 2020 Busiest Shopping Days in the U.S. included:
- Friday, November 27 – Black Friday
- Saturday, December 19 – Super Saturday
- Saturday, December 26 – Day after Christmas, aka “Boxing Day,” in some global regions
- Wednesday, December 23 – Wednesday before Christmas
- Saturday, December 12 – Second Saturday in December
- Monday, December 21 – Monday before Christmas
- Saturday, November 28 – Saturday after Thanksgiving
- Tuesday, December 22 – Tuesday before Christmas
- Saturday, December 5 – First Saturday in December
- Sunday, December 20 – Sunday before Christmas
Actual 2020 Busiest Shopping Days in the U.S. included:
- Friday, November 27 – Black Friday
- Saturday, December 19 – Super Saturday
- Saturday, December 26 – Day after Christmas, aka “Boxing Day,” in some global regions
- Saturday, December 12 – Second Saturday in December
- Wednesday, December 23 – Wednesday before Christmas
- Saturday, November 28 – Saturday after Thanksgiving
- Tuesday, December 22 – Tuesday before Christmas
- Monday, December 21 – Monday before Christmas
- Saturday, December 5 – First Saturday in December
- Saturday, January 2 – First Saturday in January
“Saturday, January 2 just missed the cutoff for our initial predicted busiest shopping days list in the U.S., but we weren’t surprised it rose in popularity this year,” said Shulman. “Looking back at the 2015 holiday calendar, which was the last time that Christmas day fell on a Friday, we noticed a similar trend as consumers used the extra weekend of the holiday season to make returns or use their gift cards before returning to work.”
Canada Results
Sensormatic Solutions predictions for the busiest shopping days in Canada also closely aligned with the actual busiest days in-store.
Predicted 2020 Busiest Shopping Days in Canada included:
- Saturday, December 26 – Boxing Day
- Friday, November 27 – Black Friday
- Saturday, November 28 – Saturday after Thanksgiving
- Saturday, December 19 – Super Saturday
- Wednesday, December 23 – Wednesday before Christmas
Actual 2020 Busiest Shopping Days in Canada included:
- Friday, November 27 – Black Friday
- Saturday, November 28 – Saturday after Thanksgiving
- Saturday, December 26 – Boxing Day
- Saturday, December 12 – Second Saturday in December
- Saturday, November 21 – Saturday before Thanksgiving
For more information on Sensormatic Solutions 2020 holiday shopping predictions and data, additional press releases are available here:
- Top Busiest Days
- Holiday Consumer Survey Results
- Thanksgiving & Black Friday Data
- Super Saturday Predictions
Sensormatic Solutions Global Retail Consulting Practice, the team of experts behind our holiday traffic predictions and results, draws upon their collective experience, new retail trends and retail-related analytics to provide key insights that can help retailers and shopping center operators improve their business through the lens of in-store traffic, inventory analytics and asset protection statistics. To schedule a complimentary meeting with our team during NRF 2021 (Jan. 12-14, 19, 21-22), please click here.
About Johnson Controls
At Johnson Controls, we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. From optimizing building performance to improving safety and enhancing comfort, we drive the outcomes that matter most. We deliver our promise in industries such as healthcare, education, data centers and manufacturing. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries and over 130 years of innovation, we are the power behind our customers’ mission. Our leading portfolio of building technology and solutions includes some of the most trusted names in the industry, such as Tyco®, YORK®, Metasys®, Ruskin®, Titus®, Frick®, Penn®, Sabroe®, Simplex®, Ansul® and Grinnell®. For more information, visit www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us @johnsoncontrols on Twitter.
About Sensormatic Solutions
Sensormatic Solutions is the leading global retail solutions portfolio of Johnson Controls enabling smart and connected shopper engagement. By combining critical insights into retail inventory, shopper traffic and loss prevention, Sensormatic Solutions powers operational excellence at scale and helps create unique shopping experiences. Our solutions deliver real-time visibility and predictive analytics for accurate decision-making across the enterprise, enabling retailers to confidently move into the future. With more than 1.5 million data collection devices in the retail marketplace, we 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. Please visit Sensormatic Solutions or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and our YouTube channel.
