• Black Friday weekend shopper traffic increased by 34.2% compared to 2020, showing a progressively favorable outlook for retailers
• Shopper traffic data indicates that visits to physical stores during the 2021 Black Friday weekend decreased by -21.7% compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year

Sensormatic Solutions, the leading global retail solutions portfolio of Johnson Controls, today released a comprehensive recap of U.S. shopper traffic during the extended 2021 Black Friday weekend, from Black Friday, November 26, through Sunday, November 28, 2021. These results are informed by retail traffic data analytics within the company’s intelligent operating platform, Sensormatic IQ.

Sensormatic Solutions found that store traffic for the 2021 Black Friday weekend was down -21.7% compared to 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. Store traffic on Saturday, November 27, decreased by -17.6% and traffic on Sunday, November 28, resulted in a -8.1% decrease from two years ago. Compared to 2020, Black Friday weekend shopper traffic increased by 34.2%.

“Just as 2020 was a year like no other, 2021 also brings unique opportunities and challenges for retailers as we officially kick off the holiday season. Shoppers are returning to stores, but there are still lingering health and safety concerns making some cautious of traditionally crowded shopping days,” said Brian Field, senior director of global retail consulting, Sensormatic Solutions. “With a data-driven understanding of customer concerns, retailers can implement processes to help make shoppers feel comfortable in stores – via occupancy monitoring, temperature checks, extended hours and a seamless contactless shopping experience.”

Traffic on Cyber Monday

Sensormatic Solutions also looked at the effect of Cyber Monday on brick-and-mortar retail traffic on Monday, November 29, and found that this year’s foot traffic decreased -9.9% compared to 2019. Cyber Monday traffic levels were similar to typical fall 2021 numbers. In the week leading up to Thanksgiving and Black Friday weekend, in-store traffic was down -11.4% compared to 2019.

“Though the mix of weekday shopping had been on the rise throughout the pandemic as shoppers take advantage of more flexible work schedules and try to avoid weekend crowds, Cyber Monday typically has no impact on in-store traffic and the same was true of this year,” said Field. “Over the past month, in-store traffic has progressively improved as consumers have started their holiday shopping early. Retailers are seeing positive change year over year, and the Black Friday weekend data shows an upward trajectory toward pre-pandemic levels.”

Sensormatic Solutions also analyzed traffic on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday. After all data was tallied, the results show that store traffic on Thanksgiving Day decreased -90.4% from 2019, as most retailers closed their locations for the holiday, and store traffic on Black Friday decreased -28.3% compared to 2019.

Additional information on the 2021 holiday season is available here:

• Global Top Busiest Days
• Holiday Consumer Survey Results
• Thanksgiving and Black Friday Data

Sensormatic IQ is helping retailers make the most of this important season with inventory intelligence, shopper experience, loss prevention, and operational effectiveness solutions designed to provide actionable insights for informed decision making to improve shopper experience and retailers’ bottom lines. For more information of retail trends and technologies throughout the season, follow Sensormatic Solutions on LinkedIn and Twitter, using #SensormaticHolidays2021.

About Johnson Controls

At Johnson Controls (NYSE:JCI) we transform the environments where people live, work, learn and play. As the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, our mission is to reimagine the performance of buildings to serve people, places and the planet.

With a history of more than 135 years of innovation, Johnson Controls delivers the blueprint of the future for industries such as healthcare, schools, data centers, airports, stadiums, manufacturing and beyond through its comprehensive digital offering OpenBlue. With a global team of 100,000 experts in more than 150 countries, Johnson Controls offers the world's largest portfolio of building technology, software as well as service solutions with some of the most trusted names in the industry. For more information, visit www.johnsoncontrols.com or follow us @johnsoncontrols on Twitter.

About Sensormatic Solutions

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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