<div class="statcounter"><a title="web statistics" href="http://statcounter.com/" target="_blank"><img class="statcounter" src="//c.statcounter.com/9192529/0/d07e92ef/1/" alt="web statistics">

How Can Cyber Monday Sales be Down but Holiday Spending Up? Retail Market Research Has the Answer

Posted by TrendSource on 12/2/21 1:35 PM

Cyber Monday is behind us and we are now firmly in that surreal space between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, where retailers go hog wild for in-store holiday decorations and Mariah Carey’s immortal hit makes some Scrooges wish for death. But before we all retreat to our winter wonderlands, we need to look back on an a unique Cyber Monday in our very unique era.

Read More

Topics: Market Research, Holiday Shopping, Consumer Behavior, Retail, Consumer Buying Behavior

Summarizing 2020 With Six Market Research Blogs

Posted by TrendSource on 12/17/20 8:30 AM

Well at least it’s almost over, amiright? 2020, what a mess. It  always had a new way to hurt us, only ever briefly pausing the pain to give us some good news (looking at you, MBJ), and felt gratuitously endless. You really do not need market research to tell you that 2020 was horrific, but through it all, we’ve been there with you, chronicling market research and the world that shapes it every week in this humble blog. 

Read More

Topics: Market Research, Food Service, Holiday Shopping, Retail, CPG, Delivery, Alcohol, COVID-19, Health and Safety

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Retail Market Research in a Pandemic

Posted by TrendSource on 12/3/20 9:50 AM

What did you do over Thanksgiving weekend? I, for one, got embarrassingly drunk embarrassingly early in my cousin’s backyard, but it seems that my fellow citizens took a more prudent path, spending a good chunk of their time shopping deals from Thanksgiving through  Black Friday and all the way to Cyber Monday. Americans spent roughly $39 billion over this five-day period.

Read More

Topics: Market Research, Online, Holiday Shopping, Omnichannel, Retail, COVID-19

The Holiday Retail Market Research Behind Last Weekend’s Shopping Surge

Posted by TrendSource on 11/25/20 8:00 AM

For reasons not worth getting into, my man and I drove from Long Beach all the way across southern California to San Bernardino, about a 60-mile trip due east. And, dear reader, let me tell you what I saw: Malls, both indoor and out, from the coast all the way to the mountains, with entirely full parking lots. Not just crowded...entirely full. People were driving around looking for parking. 

Throw in the Wall Street Journal’s recent survey of malls in three states, which showed them to be similarly popping, and I think it’s safe to say that, last weekend at least, people were shopping like their life depended on it (when, sadly, it might depend on them NOT shopping). 

How to explain these crowds, in a week where the United States surpassed 12 million active cases of COVID-19? Is this a sign of things to come, or an early blip in an abnormal shopping season? Well, we are putting in the retail market research to understand this in-store shopping surge and what retailers are already doing to keep the momentum going (it has to do with lobbying). 

Retail Market Research: Why Consumers are Crowding Malls in a Pandemic

Despite the crowds, it is important to know that the majority of consumers are, by and large, migrating their purchases online. Indeed, the National Retail Federation says that online shopping this holiday season will increase by up to 30% over last year. 

Yet, if my eyes and the Wall Street Journal are to be believed, this online surge has not curtailed in-store shopping. But there is some important context here that suggests this initial surge is a unique phenomenon in a unique year.

Indeed, it is likely that many of the people crowding malls are combining limited in-store shopping with their digital shopping plan. They would like to avoid stores as much as possible but also want to make sure they get what they want. often going for a “one-time-only” type of trip aimed at securing particularly hard to get items (read: PS5) or personally inspecting a big ticket item before purchase.

Other shoppers are following a similar one-and-done plan, but are hunting for more than just that one impossible-to-get item. According to one shopper in Michigan:  “I’ll still do most of my shopping online this year. I’m trying really hard not to come out too much, and we almost didn’t do this shopping trip this year, but in the end we decided to do it and try our best to be safe about it.”

Beating the Crowds and Racing Against a Second Lockdown

With so many shoppers planning to limit their shopping, is it possible that last weekend was merely a temporary surge that will soon level out? Anecdotally, at least, it seems that consumers have a few reasons for a pre-Thanksgiving holiday shopping rush. 

Read More

Topics: Market Research, Holiday Shopping, Omnichannel, Retail, Digital Technology, COVID-19, Health and Safety

Holiday Retail Market Research: Amid Pandemic, Custom and DIY Gifts Soar

Posted by TrendSource on 11/19/20 9:40 AM

As we discussed in our blog a couple weeks ago, despite 2020 unleashing nearly every horror imaginable upon us, holiday spending forecasts show roughly a $50/household spending decline, which, given the totality of this year's tumult, is not all that much. 

Read More

Topics: Market Research, Holiday Shopping, Omnichannel, Retail, Digital Technology, Amazon, COVID-19

Trusted Insights Blog

The Latest Market Research News

Up-to-date information on Market Research News, methodologies, products, and services.

Information for:

Subscribe Here!

Recent Posts

Posts by Tag

See all