• Sensormatic Solutions predicted the top busiest holiday shopping days for France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom/Ireland
• The Saturday after Black Friday proves top peak trading footfall driver in Germany, while the UK’s busiest footfall day will take place on the last full day of Christmas shopping (23 December)
• Top busiest days of peak trading to fall after Christmas in Spain, Italy and France, due to Epiphany and Les Soldes D’Hiver
• Current state of the economy and the timing of Christmas Day may result in even higher footfall traffic spikes on the busiest days than usual

NEUHAUSEN, Switzerland 29 September , 2022 Sensormatic Solutions, the leading global retail solutions portfolio of Johnson Controls, today announced its predictions for the top busiest shopping days of the 2022 Christmas peak trading season in EMEA.

The Saturday after Black Friday (26 November) is expected to prove the top peak trading footfall driver in Germany, while the UK’s busiest footfall day is predicted to be on the last full day of Christmas shopping (23 December). Meanwhile, the top busiest days of peak trading are expected to fall after Christmas in Spain, Italy and France, due to Epiphany and Les Soldes D’Hiver. The annual predictions for the EMEA top busiest shopper traffic days are informed by retail traffic data analytics within the company’s intelligent operating platform, Sensormatic IQ.

“We expect a busy peak trading season across the EMEA region,” said Kevin Viravec, President at Sensormatic Solutions. “Keeping up with demand, staffing appropriately, and having a complete view of operations will be crucial to delivering satisfying customer experiences as shopping peaks. The rise of truly unified commerce has boosted consumer expectations to new highs, and those expectations are likely to be even higher during the Christmas shopping season. Now is the time for retailers to reflect on the experiences they’ve been delivering online and in-store, so they can take steps to enhance their operations before the festive rush begins.”

The full list of predicted busiest shopping days in EMEA is as follows:

1. France: Saturday, January 14 – First Saturday of Les Soldes d'Hiver
2. Germany: Saturday, November 26 – Saturday after Black Friday
3. Italy: Friday, January 6 – Epiphany
4. Spain: Saturday, January 7 – First Saturday of the new year
5. United Kingdom: Friday, December 23 – last Friday before Christmas

“Historical data will be extremely valuable in determining how to stock, staff, and promote deals during the peak trading period,” said Brian Field, Global Leader of Retail Consulting and Analytics at Sensormatic Solutions, whose team predicts the top busiest days of the festive season. “Christmas Day falls on a Sunday this year, so the last Saturday before Christmas is technically Christmas Eve, shifting the landscape somewhat from the norm.”

With most stores closing earlier on the 24th December (Christmas Eve) and potential shoppers beginning their festivities, this may shift shopper traffic spikes in the run up towards the Big Day for those EMEA countries where the busiest days fall before Christmas.

“The last time Christmas fell on a Sunday was in 2016, and if that’s any indication of what will happen this year, retailers can expect bigger crowds and higher-than-normal demand in the week proceeding Christmas than they might have in other years. They’ll need to plan their approach accordingly,” Field concluded.

The predicted top busiest shopping days in EMEA include:

Sensormatic Solutions and its intelligent operating platform for retail, Sensormatic IQ, can help retailers prepare for the upcoming Christmas trading rush. The platform offers unmatched visibility into retailers’ operations by unifying diverse data streams to help drive improved shopper experiences and retail outcomes.

To learn about the top drivers of this Christmas shopping season’s busiest shopping days and how Sensormatic Solutions is supporting retailers’ needs, visit Busiest Shopping Days 2022” report. For more Sensormatic Solutions holiday insights, use #SensormaticHolidays2022 to follow along on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Sensormatic Solutions is the leading global retail solutions portfolio of Johnson Controls powering operational excellence at scale and enabling smart and connected shopper engagement. Our intelligent digital operating platform – Sensormatic IQ – combines the full Sensormatic Solutions portfolio, including third-party data to deliver unmatched insights into shopper experience, inventory intelligence, loss prevention and operational effectiveness with advanced technologies, like AI and Machine Learning. This enables retailers to act on prescriptive and predictive data-driven outcomes to confidently move into the future. Please visit Sensormatic Solutions or follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, and our YouTube channel.

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