Cyber Monday, Super Saturday, and the high-shopper-traffic weekends leading up to Christmas should, according to retail polls, deliver beautifully for retailers this year.

But Black Friday is expected to hold onto its title of busiest shopping day of the year in 2018, according a recent report by retail analytics firm ShopperTrak.

“Our historical analysis indicates that Black Friday is again the biggest shopper traffic day of the year, and each Saturday in December gets progressively busier as you approach Christmas Day,” said Brian Field, senior director of retail consulting practice at ShopperTrak, in the report. “The Thanksgiving Day weekend—including Black Friday as the busiest day, and the Saturday after Thanksgiving, Nov. 24, as the fifth-busiest day—will be a crucial span of days for retailers as they approach the holiday season.”

So how many Americans will hit the malls and main streets? A report last week from Reuters revealed that around 38 percent of U.S. consumers plan to shop on Black Friday (Nov. 23) this year, with 59 percent of those shoppers saying they plan to make at least half of their holiday purchases on that day, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

The poll further revealed that 37 percent of consumers intend to do their shopping “primarily or totally online,” while 16 percent will do all or most of their holiday shopping in brick-and-mortar stores.

The biggest draws for shopping online, according to respondents, are free shipping, followed by coupons and door-buster deals.

In September, ShopperTrak shared what its data collection revealed will be the busiest shopping days of the year. They are, from the busiest: Black Friday; Super Saturday; the third Saturday in December; the Sunday before Christmas; the Saturday after Thanksgiving; the second Saturday in December; the Friday before Christmas; the day after Christmas; the first Saturday in December; and the Saturday after Christmas.

(Photo: Pexels)

Emili Vesilind

JCK Senior Editor