So, you survived Black Friday. According to trends, that’s probably because you skipped the malls in favor of microwaved left-overs and a shopping plan centered more on eCommerce than early lines. Regardless of your strategy, there are a lot of forces at play this year in the holiday shopping season. The mobile and technological developments, economic influences, and cultural shifts that shape the way we research and buy items reaches a new scale in the pre-holiday rush. Here are a handful of facts to keep in mind.
Online shopping continues to be a major force
46% of consumers plan to increase their online shopping during the 2012 holiday season, compared to the 8% who plan to increase in-store shopping (@Hybris_software) Tweet this stat
23% of holiday 2012 shoppers in the US will spend more online than offline (@Deloitte) Tweet this stat
70% of online holiday buyers say they purchased online instead of in stores because deals online were better (@Forrester) Tweet this stat
In 2011, Cyber Monday online spending increased by 33% over 2010 (@Mediative) Tweet this stat
48% of holiday 2012 shoppers in the US will use social media (@Deloitte) Tweet this stat
20% of US online adults consider Google most helpful when researching products or services, followed by 19% for Amazon and 12% for retail stores (@forrester) Tweet this stat
57% of app users in the US say they would consider purchasing their holiday gifts on a mobile device (@Apigee) Tweet this stat
By 2016 more than half of the dollars spent in US retail will be influenced by the Web (@Forrester) Tweet this stat
Online purchasing was rated the “Overall favorite” by 59% of Americans, as well as the “Easiest” (68%) and “Most convenient” (68%) versus in-store and mobile (@NielsenWire)
The increasing role of Showrooming
Showrooming is the consumer practice of browsing for products in-store before opting to compare prices and buy online. Browsing in-stores enables shoppers to examine the products, try them on, and even benefit from talking with in-store sales representatives. Showrooming with mobile phones provides shoppers with all of those benefits but also gives them the ability to find the lowest price, whether it be on the retailer’s website or a competitors like Amazon.
48M shoppers (~20% of the US adult population) will “showroom” during holiday 2012, a 134% increase from 2011 when 20.5M shoppers showroomed (@IDC) Tweet this stat
28% of smartphone- or tablet-owning adult holiday shoppers plan to shop with their devices on Thanksgiving Day, up from 16% in 2011 (@Digitas) Tweet this stat
74% of mobile Boomers use their phone while shopping (@inmobi) Tweet this stat
29% of shoppers that used a retail store as a showroom ended up buying from the retailer’s own website (@Vibes_Media) Tweet this stat
Of the shoppers that showroom, 25% leave the store and make a purchase from a competitor (representing 6% of all shoppers) (@Vibes_Media) Tweet this stat
Optimizing the in-store experience
So what are stores to do in the face of increasing showrooming? While some stores are blocking wifi and hiding bar codes, others are working with consumer behavior and finding ways to leverage showrooming in their in-store experience. In an interview with Wired Magazine, Walmart.com President and CEO Joel Anderson explained, “You’ve got to go where the customer wants you to go. We live in the age of the customer. We’re embracing showrooming.” Acknowledging that shoppers use their phones to research and compare products in store, some stores are adapting to provide shoppers with the information they need, offer price-matching, and store-only perks. The following research underscores some of the opportunities that exist for stores to leverage consumers’ use of phones and showrooming while shopping.
44% of U.S. consumers who purchased consumer electronics during the 2011 holiday season had sales associates recommend specific products, and 85% of those purchased it (@Marketforce) Tweet this stat
51% of shoppers will research online and then visit the store to purchase during holiday 2012, while 17% will visit a store first and then purchase online (@Google) Tweet this stat
More than 62% of moms with smartphones use a shopping app, and 46% want to receive information on their mobile device while inside a store (@Mojiva) Tweet this stat
Two weeks after Walmart launched “in-store mode” in its mobile app, ~60% of shoppers using its app opted to use it (@Walmart) Tweet this stat
30% of online shoppers research a product on Amazon before they purchase (@Forrester) Tweet this stat
And a partridge in a pear tree
We couldn’t leave you with just 19 facts for your holiday weekend. This stuff is way too interesting. Here are a couple of bonus facts on holiday shoppers before you go.
59.2% of US shoppers plan to buy gift cards during holiday 2012 (@Nrfnews) tweet this stat
Display ads running on Black Friday through Cyber Monday have a 32.6% higher engagement rate than the average (@RhythmNewMedia) Tweet this stat
Alright, now we’ve worked off all of our Thanksgiving stuffing. Thanks for reading. You can find countless other facts on holiday shopping, ecommerce, marketing and other fields over at www.factbrowser.com. Here are a few categories you may like:
Black Friday Image by Beth Rankin
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