Dive Brief:
- Signaling the success of new retail holidays, Target's foot traffic increased by 3.2% during the week of October 3-9, 2022, compared to October 4-10, 2021, according to a Placer.ai report.
- The October Deal Days event, which ran Oct. 6-8, attracted nearly 28% more average daily visits from customers to Target locations than last year, and nearly 57% more daily visitors per store than in 2020, according to the report.
- The Deal Days event generated more visits on Saturday, Oct. 8, than on the Saturday and Monday of Labor Day 2022, but the combined visits during Labor Day weekend surpassed the October 2022 deal days, the report also found.
Dive Insight:
Though Labor Day is a popular retail holiday, the uptick in foot traffic for Target signals that major retailers may benefit from creating their own shopping holidays that steer consumer behavior, Placer.ai noted in its report. The Deal Days event spread partially over the weekend suggests that consumers are open to shopping holidays that occur during an otherwise slow timeframe.
After unveiling its holiday discounts ahead of Amazon, Target continued its early deals in October. This month, the retailer announced its holiday savings three weeks earlier than in 2021, with week-long Black Friday deals taking place between now through Nov. 26. The retailer said it was offering Black Friday discounts on hundreds more items this year.
In preparation for the holiday demand, Target also is hiring seasonal staff. In late September, the retailer said it planned to hire up to 100,000 seasonal employees, about the same as in 2021. Other major retailers, including Walmart, Amazon and Macy's, are also looking for more staffers ahead of the holidays.
The early holiday deals appear to be here to stay as the COVID-19 pandemic shifts over time. An Adobe report released earlier this month noted that retailers are expected to offer discounts as high as 15% off as early as the second week of October. Adobe attributes a potential modest increase in consumer spending between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 to the early holiday deals.
