SAN JOSE, Calif.-Store traffic during the 2012 holiday shopping season fell from the 2011 season, but average transaction value rose, according to research conducted by RetailNext.
Based on the brick-and-mortar retail consulting firm’s look at more than 780 U.S. stores, total 2012 holiday traffic was off 16.4 percent from 2011. At the same time, the average purchase ticket rose 3.7 percent, indicating that shoppers had planned out their strategies for store visits and purchases in advance of going to the stores.
Most of shoppers’ store visits occurred within 10 days of Christmas, RetailNext said, with Dec. 22 (described by the company as “a monster shopping day”) surpassing Black Friday in sales volume by 11 percent. On other key dates—Black Friday, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day—store traffic and sales were down, RetailNext said.