If National Retail Federation projections proved accurate, more than 158 million consumers rushed to buy holiday gifts on “Super Saturday,” the last Saturday before Christmas Eve.

This figure is approximately 10 million more than last year’s estimated number of Super Saturday shoppers and the highest number since NRF first started tracking this data in 2016.

This year, 21% of shoppers participating in the NRF survey expressed a desire to receive jewelry this holiday season. That figure is up 1 percentage point from a year earlier. Interestingly, gift givers are apparently taking note of their loved ones' desires, because 20% of respondents told the NRF that they would be gifting jewelry this holiday season.

Of the 158.5 million anticipated Super Saturday shoppers, 44.1 million (28%) were expected to shop exclusively in stores, 42.1 million (27%) would be making purchases only online and 72.2 million (46%) would be shopping both in stores and online.

NRF has predicted that holiday season sales will grow between 6% and 8% over 2021 to between $942.6 billion and $960.4 billion. The holiday season is defined as November 1 through December 31.

“Consumers have been shopping in record numbers this year, purchasing holiday items for friends and loved ones,” NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay. “With Super Saturday falling eight days before Christmas, retailers [were] prepared to help shoppers fulfill their last-minute purchases that [would] make this holiday season memorable.”

The NRF is expecting a late sales surge from a great number of shopping procrastinators. More than half of respondents (52%) admitted that they will still be picking up last-minute gifts in the week leading up to Christmas.

Additionally, 70% of those surveyed said their shopping plans will extend beyond December 25. This is on par with pre-pandemic levels for post-Christmas shopping.

“Strong shopping is expected after Christmas as holiday shoppers aim to take advantage of retailers’ sales and promotions,” Prosper Executive Vice President of Strategy Phil Rist said. “In the week following Christmas Day, we expect to see consumers maximize holiday sales and promotions, use gift cards and return or exchange unwanted gifts.”

The NRF also identified a noticeable shift in the way young people have paid for the holiday items. About three-quarters (76%) of those aged 18 to 24 say they have used an alternative payment method or digital wallet so far this holiday shopping season. Some of more popular methods include PayPal, Apple Pay and CashApp.

The NRF Super Saturday survey of 7,857 consumers was conducted by Prosper Insights & Analytics from December 1 through December 7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.

Credits: Image by Bigstockphoto.com. Tables courtesy of NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics.