While Saturday has traditionally been the “big” shopping day for most U.S. consumers, recent studies are revealing that shopping on Sunday is becoming, “an all-day event” for many consumers.
“We have gotten into the habit of getting together for lunch and shopping on Sunday afternoons, especially in the late summer/early fall,” began Linda Conklin, of Queens, New York. “Sundays just seem less crazy and more conducive for that kind of social-shopping experience. The less rushed you feel when shopping, the better for everyone.”
For decades now, Blue laws forbidding retail businesses to open on Sunday have been dying, but retail analysts claim that it’s really been within the past five years that many retailers have discovered that the Sunday foot traffic rivals Saturday’s – typically the day with highest customer count. As a result, many retailers around the U.S. have been extending their shorter Sunday hours, opening in the morning or keeping the doors open into the evening.
Think about it, years ago, other then supermarkets, there weren’t that many stores open on Sunday,” began retail analyst Martha Refik. “Take a drive around today on a Sunday and you’ll see many more locations open on Sunday and others who had been open that now have extended their hours to earlier in the morning or later at night.”
According to researchers at the International Council of Shopping Centers, Sunday typically brings in about 13 percent to 14 percent of the weekly sales and customer traffic for most retailers with shopping center locations, coming behind Friday sales of about 16-17 percent and the top revenue day, Saturday, which brings in about 21 percent to 22 percent of the week’s total sales.
Those numbers are on the rise for Sunday and as more and more locations extend those hours the increase in Sunday traffic is expected to continue. “Stress levels are generally down on Sundays for everyone,” added Conklin. “Shopping should be fun and Sundays just lend themselves to making the entire experience more fun.” And in the retail world, happy shoppers usually lead to greater profits.
