Retail Calendar Calculator

What Is a Retail Calendar?

A retail calendar — also known as a 4-5-4 calendar, NRF calendar, or retail fiscal calendar — is a method of dividing the fiscal year into 13-week quarters. Each quarter is split into periods of 4, 5, or 4 weeks (or another rotation like 5-4-4 or 4-4-5). This ensures every period ends on the same day of the week, making year-over-year comparisons more meaningful for retailers.

How Does the 4-4-5 Calendar Work?

The 4-4-5 calendar divides each quarter into three periods: the first two have 4 weeks and the third has 5 weeks. This pattern repeats for all four quarters, resulting in a 52-week fiscal year. Approximately every 5–6 years, a 53rd week is added to realign the retail calendar with the Gregorian calendar. The 4-5-4 and 5-4-4 variants follow the same logic but rotate which period gets the extra week.

Why Do Retailers Use a Retail Calendar?

Retailers use the retail calendar because it ensures each period contains the same number of Saturdays and Sundays, which are typically the highest-traffic shopping days. This makes period-over-period and year-over-year sales comparisons far more accurate than with a standard calendar. The National Retail Federation (NRF) publishes the most widely used retail calendar based on the 4-5-4 pattern.

Key Terms

• Cycle Type — The week pattern used within each quarter (e.g., 4-4-5, 4-5-4, or 5-4-4).
• Cycle Base Date — The anchor date that defines when the first period of the retail calendar begins.
• Year-End Month — The calendar month in which the fiscal year ends, which determines how periods are numbered (P1 through P12).
• 53rd Week — An extra week added approximately every 5–6 years to keep the retail calendar aligned with the Gregorian calendar.