Despite the rumors on the street circulating about a future recession, this holiday season might be one of the most successful ones the retail industry has experienced. A recent report done by OpenX/Harris polled 2,000 consumers to see what we can expect from retailers this holiday season. This report revealed that, not only will shoppers be spending more on digital channels rather than in brick-and-mortar stores, but almost one-third of these polled consumers plan to spend more money than they did last year while shopping for the holidays. At least one in five dollars from total sales will be purchased from a mobile device.
Now, I know what you’re thinking…what baby boomer is planning to max out their card…and why?
So, let’s break this up into demographics. Millennials, unsurprisingly, are planning to spend the most, at about 15% more than the average consumer. However, you should note that a Baby Boomer is not, per se, an average consumer. Thus, Millennials will be spending, on average, about 25% more than Baby Boomers. These spending habits partially have to deal with the way this generation was raised, but it’s also important to note that about 68% of Millennials claim to be the primary shopper for their household.
Consumers are feeling more and more optimistic about the economy, and this feeling is being reflected in their spending habits. These statistics are extremely valuable in the marketing sphere because, to state the obvious, the ideal target market should be the ones spending all of the money: The Millennials!
So, why am I throwing all of this at you now? It’s only November!
As it turns out, some people are planners; they shop long ahead of when their gifts are needed. In fact, about half of all shoppers have started thinking about their holiday gifts before September and 37% have even started making their purchases!
What does this mean?
This means that retailers should already be marketing their holiday products and throwing out ads for gift ideas that consumers can absorb for later [or now if they’re a planner]. Last year, holiday sales hit a whopping $80.3 billion between November 1 and December 6. This is an 18.6% increase from 2017 to 2018. If these consumers truly believe they’re going to spend even more than last year, then the retail industry is going to be a very exciting place to be for these next few months.
Are you part of the 50% who has already started planning their holiday gifts?
Sources:
https://www.retaildive.com/news/online-holiday-spending-so-far-tops-80b/543939/
Photos Courtesy of UW-Madison Archives
