You may think Black Friday is the biggest shopping day of the year, but it’s actually the Saturday before Christmas, as procrastinating shoppers hit the stores looking for last minute deals to complete their loved ones’ wish lists.

Retailers are marketing to the last-minute Santas through Christmas Eve with expanded hours and increased discounts.

“Some of the prices are even lower than the door-buster deals on Black Friday,” Mike Fridgen, CEO of the price-predicting site Decide.com, told NBC News. “So these are exceptional deals.”

According to Consumer Reports, 17 million Americans will hit the malls Dec. 24. And since the retail holiday sales have only grown 2.5 percent from 2011, down from the 3.3-percent increase ShopperTrak predicted, retailers may be left with too much inventory. Therefore, experts predict 70 percent of Black Friday prices will be back in stores on Christmas Eve.

“The size of the discounts is more aggressive when you feel the consumer is more cautious. And most retailers believe the consumers are more cautious this year. So they’re trying to incentivize more,” said Tom Lounibos, the CEO of SOASTA, a Web and mobile performance and analytics company in Mountain View, Calif., according to Time.

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