Can you hear the bells are jingling and Mariah Carrey is refreshing her bank balance daily as she watches it rise every time one of her epic Christmas tunes are played?
Christmas falls on a Sunday this year, which will affect holiday shopping patterns. The last time this happened was in 2016. A lot has changed in that time but with NZ now out of the covid traffic light system, it will take some careful consideration for retailers to plan their approach accordingly.
Prediction | Top Busiest Shopping Day for
the 2022 Year-End Shopping Season
Monday, December 26 – Boxing Day
Sensormatic Solutions has been predicting the top busiest shopping days around the world for years (well with a decent gap in covid where all data was pretty unreliable or stores were simply not open). The predictions that they make are based on years of analysed foot traffic based on when Christmas Day falls. They have been incredibly spot on in past years and this insight has aided many in planning for keeping up with demand, staffing appropriately, finely managing operations to deliver satisfying customer experiences at shopping peaks.
WHAT ARE THE OTHER DAYS TO ANTICIPATE PEAKS
New Zealand
1. Monday, December 26 – Boxing Day
2. Friday, December 23 – Friday before Christmas
3. Saturday, December 17 – Super Saturday
4. Saturday, December 24 – Christmas Eve
5. Wednesday, December 21 – Wednesday before Christmas The rise of unified commerce has boosted consumer expectations to new highs, and those expectations are likely to be even higher during the holiday season. Typically in NZ the formal holiday season kicks off from Labour Weekend. This is where we see a lot of sales commence to get onto shoppers radars and get the first wallet grab of the season. However many stores had their Christmas goodies on display as early as late September where the outdoor lights were on full display in Bunnings and Christmas wrap and advent calendars were ready for the basket.
Now is the time for retailers to reflect on the experiences they’ve been delivering online and in-store so they can take steps to enhance their operations before the rush begins.
WHAT ARE THE OTHER BIG EVENTS IN THE BACK OF THE YEAR
Friday, November 25 – Black Friday through to Monday 28 November – Cyber Monday (it all blends into a 4 day – week long event)
Friday, November 11 – Singles Day
Tues 11/Wed 12 October – some retailers respond to Amazon Prime Day but we really don’t know why they bother
What do you think is going to be the biggest shopping day of the holiday season?
Boxing Day - Monday 26 December
Christmas Eve - Saturday 24 December
Friday before Christmas - Friday 23 December
Super Saturday - Saturday 17 December