Sensormatic Solutions by Johnson Controls Releases 2021 North America Holiday Shopping Recap Based on Shopper Traffic Analytics

Shopper Traffic Spiked on Black Friday 2023, According to Data From Sensormatic Solutions

Sensormatic Solutions, the leading global retail solutions portfolio of Johnson Controls, today released its annual traffic and behavior trends recap for the 2021 holiday season for the U.S. and Canada. This includes the period of six weeks spanning from the Sunday before Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 21, 2021, through Saturday, Jan. 1, 2022. The annual recap is informed by retail traffic data analytics within the company’s intelligent operating platform, Sensormatic IQ.

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 Solutions also originally predicted that the 10 busiest shopping days in the U.S. would account for approximately 40% of all holiday traffic. Altogether, the actual 2021 busiest shopping days accounted for 35.8% of the total season’s brick-and-mortar traffic.

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Traffic for the full six-week period was down -19.5% in the U.S., compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. This is an improvement from 2020 when holiday traffic was down -33.1% compared to 2019.

“Although this was the second holiday season impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, consumer shopping habits looked different than in years past, including 2020,” said Brian Field, senior director of global retail consulting, Sensormatic Solutions. “Despite ongoing concerns about the virus, our traffic data made it clear that consumers were more willing to return to stores this year. However, with ongoing supply chain disruptions and product shortages, we saw a noticeable shift in consumers who shopped earlier in the season. In the month of November, traffic was only down -18.1% compared to 2019, indicating slightly fewer consumers who left their shopping until the last few days as they had in years past.”

U.S. Results

Predicted 2021 Busiest Shopping Days in the U.S. included:

Actual 2021 Busiest Shopping Days in the U.S. included:

  1. Friday, November 26 – Black Friday
  2. Saturday, December 18 – Super Saturday
  3. Thursday, December 23 – Thursday before Christmas
  4. Saturday, December 11 – 2nd Saturday in December
  5. Sunday, December 26 – Day after Christmas, aka “Boxing Day”
  6. Wednesday, December 22 – Wednesday before Christmas
  7. Saturday, November 27 – Saturday after Thanksgiving
  8. Saturday, December 4 – 1st Saturday in December
  9. Tuesday, December 21 – Tuesday before Christmas
  10. Sunday, December 19 – Sunday before Christmas
  1. Friday, November 26 – Black Friday
  2. Saturday, December 18 – Super Saturday
  3. Thursday, December 23 – Thursday before Christmas
  4. Saturday, December 11 – 2nd Saturday in December
  5. Saturday, November 27 – Saturday after Thanksgiving
  6. Saturday, December 4 – 1st Saturday in December
  7. Sunday, December 19 – Sunday before Christmas
  8. Wednesday, December 22 – Wednesday before Christmas
  9. Monday, December 20 – Monday before Christmas
  10. Tuesday, December 21 – Tuesday before Christmas

“Though it did not make our initial list, we felt that the Monday leading into Christmas would be a strong day for in-store shopping and were not surprised when it overtook Sunday, December 26 for a place on the list of top ten busiest days in the U.S.,” said Field. “Unlike prior holiday seasons in the U.S., none of the days following Christmas were among the top ten busiest in 2021.”

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Canada Results

Sensormatic Solutions predictions for the busiest shopping days in Canada also closely aligned with the actual busiest days in-store.

Predicted 2021 Busiest Shopping Days in Canada included:

Actual 2021 Busiest Shopping Days in the Canada included:

  1. Friday, November 26 – Black Friday
  2. Sunday, December 26 – Boxing Day
  3. Saturday, November 27 – Saturday after Black Friday
  4. Saturday, December 18 – Super Saturday
  5. Saturday, December 11 – 2nd Saturday in December
  1. Friday, November 26 – Black Friday
  2. Saturday, November 27 – Saturday after Black Friday
  3. Sunday, December 26 – Boxing Day
  4. Saturday, December 11 – 2nd Saturday in December
  5. Saturday, December 18 – Super Saturday

Additional information on the 2021 holiday season is available here:

  • Top Busiest Days
  • Holiday Consumer Survey Results
  • Thanksgiving and Black Friday Data
  • Black Friday Weekend and Cyber Monday Data
  • Super Saturday Data

Sensormatic Solutions and its intelligent operating platform for retail, Sensormatic IQ, is a vital component of Johnson Controls OpenBlue technologies and innovations which promotes healthy people, healthy places and healthy planet. Sensormatic Solutions is helping retailers solve complex challenges related to consumer confidence, health and safety as part of its mission.

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