Red Cup Day perks up Starbucks’ holiday sales

Red Cup Day was a huge success for Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) as the coffee chain saw a 42.4% jump in visits, making November 14 the best U.S. sales day ever and a significant improvement from last year’s Red Cup Day.

“It was a fantastic day for coffee and a great step in our journey,” new CEO Brian Niccol wrote in a message to the Wall Street Journal.

Red Cup Day is an annual event held during the holiday season when Starbucks (SBUX) gives away a free holiday cup with the order of a seasonal beverage. The promotion typically results in enthusiastic customers and long lines. And according to Placer.ai data, more customers visited Starbucks on Red Cup Day than during the entire week of Pumpkin Spice Latte.

The jolt in business came just as Starbucks (SBUX) experienced several weeks of year-over-year declines in the number of customers, as traffic between September 2nd and November 10^th was down an average of 4.4% from the same period last year.