FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 15, 2017) – While many shoppers will hit the stores over Thanksgiving weekend, independent retailers across the commonwealth are holding out for a later date as their busiest holiday shopping day this year.
Kentucky independent retailers are once again deeming “Super Saturday” (Dec. 23, the last Saturday before Christmas) as their anticipated busiest holiday shopping season sales day. A consistent 30 percent of survey respondents are holding out for the mad dash in the final days leading up to Santa’s arrival.
Small Business Saturday came in close behind as the anticipated busiest holiday sales day with 25 percent of respondents choosing the “shop small” date marketed by American Express. This number is up from KRF’s 2016 survey when only 16 percent of respondents anticipated their busiest holiday sales day to fall on Small Business Saturday (the Saturday after Thanksgiving.)
Over half (51 percent) of respondents anticipate consumer confidence to be the same this holiday shopping season as 2016.
“While more than half of survey respondents anticipate holiday shopping season sales to equal that of 2016, we’re seeing a more positive outlook in comparison to last year.” Sarah Rowlette, KRF director of communications, explained. “Fewer independent retailers are concerned that holiday sales will fall short of 2016 sales (29 percent of respondents this year compared to 33 percent of respondents last year) and more retailers are optimistic – anticipating sales exceeding the 2016 holiday shopping season (18 percent of respondents this year compared to only 15 percent last year.)”
According to a consumer survey from the National Retail Federation, shoppers say they plan to spend $967.13 this year, up 3.4 percent from last year when respondents said they planned to spend $935.58 during the 2016 holiday season.
The Kentucky Retail Federation’s State of the Retail Industry / Holiday Survey is conducted annually in the fall. The survey asked more than 2,000 independent retailers in various retail sectors questions about the current state of the commonwealth’s retail industry and the 2017 holiday shopping season.
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