Consumers across the U.S. have been battling the cold, wintry storms for months. But no mega polar vortex could stop them from putting on their snowshoes, hats and scarves to head to the stores this past holiday season. In fact, 96% of respondents from our 2014 Post-Holiday Consumer Insights Report identified visiting a physical store as their preferred channel to purchase holiday gifts.
While in-store shopping remains first choice, holiday shoppers are using their mobile devices for much more than posting status updates to Facebook. Purchasing holiday gifts using a mobile device increased from 22% in 2013 to 30% in 2014. Additionally, shoppers are increasingly choosing to review and price check items they are interested in before committing to a purchase. Checking prices via mobile devices while shopping in physical stores increased from 36% to 43% overall with 67% of 26 to 30 year olds citing this as a strategy during their holiday shopping.
Wallets Far From Frozen
The last three years, customers have followed through with their intent to spend more on holiday gifts, though at a higher rate than they anticipated. Nearly half (45%) of our respondents found themselves over budget in 2014, spending upwards of $200 more than they intended. Additionally, holiday shoppers are actually spending more than previous years, 33% in 2014 compared to 28% and 30% in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Where are consumers dropping those dollars and cents? Fashion/Apparel purchases are most common, with 73% of respondents intending to spend and actually spending budgets in this category in 2014. The majority of shoppers also indicated intent to stick with their original choice for holiday gifts; 87% of respondents indicated purchasing the top gift they had in mind.
Black Friday Shopping…Not So Trendy
Even with the incredible deals during Black Friday, respondents who intended (14%) to hit the stores to score some discounts found themselves doing most of their shopping at another time. Only 7.8% of respondents actually shopped during Black Friday. In the past three years, there has been a significant fluctuation between the intended holiday shopping time frame and the actual one. Shoppers’ intentions leaned toward shopping “Year-Round” and “Black Friday”; however, in actuality most shopping took place right before Christmas, indicating a trend towards “last-minute shopping”.
Over the past three years, TrendSource has gathered insights into holiday buying behaviors to establish consumer trends. Click the button below to download the full report and infographic.
Methodology: TrendSource conducted this research study by electronically surveying North American Field Agents between January 5th and January 18th, 2015. The results represent 3,172 online respondents who met the qualifying criteria of confirming gift purchasing during the 2014 Holiday Season. All respondents opted in to participate voluntarily.
