How much in increased sales does having a santa bring in?
It shouldn’t be impossible to get a ballpark figure. Most of them give the kiddy a candy cane or something of the sort. Alert checkers could easily hit a special key each time they see one while ringing up sales.
Has this ever been done?
Related question; how much are these santas paid? I hear minimum wage, but that means little.
Peace,
mangeorge
BTW; Merry Christmas! 
I spent six years managing one of those Photos with Santa operations in the mall. We worked for a private company, not the mall. The mall received a percentage of our sales, but in return provided us with a dressing/break room (an unused retail space), security, etc. I don’t know that having Santa there attracted that many customers who wouldn’t have been in the mall anyway. It was more like a facet of their total holiday theme.
The kids who worked for us made about minimum wage. As manager I made $10-12 per hour, including my time during the pre- and post-season doing hiring, meeting with mall management, setting up and testing our equipment, etc. Santa was paid a flat fee for the entire season which was negotiated individually, but paid pretty well. Most of our Santas were at least semi-retired, and the money they made was a substantial part of their yearly income.
Macy’s in San Francisco fired their Santa earlier this month. He was much loved by the public, and a lot of people vowed to never shop there again. I wonder how much money they lost?
I didn’t even think of santa paying the mall. It’s obvious, now that TCB mentions it. I sure wouldn’t make much of a business person, would I.
So much for Miracle on 34th Street, eh.
There is a Santa Claus after all. 
Parents take their kids to the mall to see Santa. The more people in the mall, the more people walking by the stores. The more people walking by the stores, the more people who go into the stores. The more people going into the stores, the more the store sells.
It would be impossible to quantify with figures, but if you decided not to have a mall Santa, and the mall down the road does have one, kids who want to see Santa will not be showing up at your mall.
If there’s an outside company, they’re making money selling photos of the kids on Santa’s lap.
Gosh, maybe you’ve stumbled upon a way to get those of us who detest malls to actually step foot into one again! “No Santa! You DINK’s with higher disposable income are free to come shop here in in a relaxed environment without all of the loathsome children and bothersome families. Of course we have a token toy store, because we know you have nieces and nephews.”
As I said in the OP, it wouldn’t be impossible to get some numbers. Staticians could work something out from that. Madison Avenue does it. Or at least they used to. Do the ad folks still hang out there??
Actually, it would be nearly, if not totally, impossible, because, as you said in the OP, you are asking about increased sales. That means you have to determine not merely how many people are here in the store, today, because of the Santa, but also, how much of the sales that those people are responsible for today would not have occurred anyway, just on a different day.
The only way to even begin to find that out would require you to actually ask people. But even then, how many could say for certain “No, I wouldn’t have bought that whatsit next week. The only reason I bought it at all is because I’m here to bring my kid to see Santa.” No doubt it’s true of some people, for some whatsits, but there is no way to quantify that, reliably.
Have you ever seen the lines at those santa things?
Anyway, researchers need only a sample. From there they can extrapolate.