Super Saturday or Panic Saturday is the last Saturday before Christmas, a major day of revenue for American retailers, marking the end of the shopping season they, and many customers, believe begins on Black Friday.
Super Saturday targets last-minute shoppers. To compete with each other, stores offer significant discounts and extend store hours in an attempt to attract customers and drive impulse buying. The date is slightly more likely to fall on December 22, December 19 or December 17 (58 in 400 years each), than on December 21 or December 20 (57), and slightly less likely to occur on December 23 or December 18 (56).
In an effort to attract customers, stores often extend their hours during these crucial days of the retail season. Some stores go as far as to leave their stores open all day long until Christmas Eve in hopes that customers will take the extra time during off-peak hours to both review alternative options and to spread out workloads for cashiers.
Because stores predict double or triple their typical customer turnout on Super Saturday, many increase their staffing during these critical days to be able to handle the demand.