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Omicron Surge Curtails Shopper Traffic Gains on Super Saturday
The Omicron variant surge put a damper on shopping traffic for this year’s Super Saturday—i.e. the last Saturday before Christmas—according to data released Tuesday by Placer.ai. Foot traffic on Dec. 18 was up 35.3% year-over-year at indoor malls and 18.3% at outdoor centers, but the Y-O-Y gains were considerably smaller compared to the same metrics for Black Friday. Foot traffic was also down compared to Super Saturday in 2019.
“Not only were visits down for many retailers on Super Saturday, but the gaps [in visits compared to 2019] were actually bigger than those seen on Black Friday—indicating that rising COVID cases had a significant effect,” Placer.ai reported.
“For example, while Target visits were down 3.1% on Black Friday compared to the same day in 2019, that gap increased to 6.5% on Super Saturday. Walmart went from seeing visits up 2.8% on Black Friday to seeing visits down 11.5% on Super Saturday.”
The picture was brighter for a few retail chains, such as Home Depot and Sephora, both of which saw traffic up compared to 2019. As a category, dollar discount stores also fared well, with visits up from two years ago at all three chains Placer.ai analyzed.
- ◦Economy
