How will you do your Christmas shopping this year?
With the Santa Claus Parade and Black Friday behind us, the real holiday retail season has begun. Google commissioned an interesting report to give retailers a glimpse into how consumers will be doing their shopping this year. The report entitled "Holiday Shopping Intentions Study" provides some interesting insight into how our shopping habits have evolved.
Some interesting facts from the study:
- 51% will research on-line and visit a bricks and mortar store to make a purchase and 44% of us will research on-line and buy our presents on-line and surprisingly, 32% if us will research on-line, visit the store to see the product and then go back on-line to buy.
- Traditional offline sources like TV, newspapers and circulars aren't as useful as they used to be.
- 4 in 5 shoppers will use multiple devices simultaneously to help with their shopping (desktop and using a smart phone or tablet)
- 54% said that they will start their holiday shopping before Black Friday (November 23 this year)
- 46% indicated that they will spend more time shopping around this year due to the economy.
- We aren't only researching on-line, we are giving technology tools as presents this year. Hot items predicted are tablets and e-readers.
So what is a business to take away with this information? Obviously a strong on-line presence is a must as well as a strong mobile platform. Many shoppers are guided in the mall by their smart phones and sale offers promoted as their proximity to store locations is detected.
Some retailers are trying the lure shoppers into their stores, integrating brick and mortar operations with the on-line experience. Check out this recent trend reported in Canadian Business. Some retailers are bringing shoppers in to the store, making their store a "destination". This trend was reported recently on Sunday Morning in a clip entitled "What's In Store?"
Need to brush up on e-commerce? Why not check out some of these titles available at the library:
Comments