CGP: 'Stunning’ Super Saturday drives record sales

Super Saturday gave a big boost to holiday sales.

That’s according to a report from Customer Growth Partners, which estimates a record total of $930 billion in sales for the November-December holiday shopping period, up 2.4% from last year’s $908 billion. 

The record sales were paced by a “stunning” $47 billion total in sales on Super Saturday (Dec, 23), well ahead of the $42.6 billion in sales on Black Friday, noted CGP, whose calculations draw on a nationwide survey sample size of 11,586, across all retail sectors except autos/parts, restaurants and gasoline. 

The 2.4% growth — about half of 10-year CAGR of 5.1% —  shows a continued slowdown from when the post-Covid spending peak was still in play, said CGP president Craig Johnson.

“After overly excited retail growth for three years, consumers are returning to more normalized spending patterns, with ‘considered purchasing’ instead of the more impulse-driven shopping seen in the post-Covid peak,” he added. “At the same time, households continue to migrate from goods purchases to services such as restaurants, hospitality and entertainment.”

The generally benign weather this year also played a part in holiday spending, as a lingering warm fall in most of the country gave way to continued mild weather as Black Friday and December approached.  With few major storms through Christmas, shoppers were out in droves, happy to enjoy the above average temperatures, Johnson said. However, with the mild weather, sales of outerwear and winter accessories suffered.

“With cautionary shoppers buying closer to need, the winter gear saw weak sell-through in most of the season until well into December, when the heavy winter inventories required deeper discounting on these goods to clear through the dated product, reducing margins for department and specialty stores that feature winter assortments,” Johnson explained.

Looking to 2024, Johnson predicts that retail growth may stay modest until later in the year, since consumers may spend the next few months drawing down their credit card debt. 

“Still,” he added, “the American consumer remains remarkably resilient and she may well propel the economy as she has often done, in good times and bad.”