With Thanksgiving quickly approaching, the 2019 holiday shopping season is in full swing. eMarketer predicts that total US retail sales will climb 3.8% to $1.008 trillion this season, making 2019 the first-ever trillion-dollar year. As consumers race to find the perfect gifts at the best prices, the shortened timespan between Thanksgiving and Christmas is placing added pressure on retailers and third-party logistics providers (think FedEx, UPS, etc.). Due to the time crunch, 75% of retailers are switching up how they offer deals to shoppers this season, with 55% offering deeper discounts, 54% running deals earlier than usual, and 44% calling out the shortened timeframe in advertising to shoppers.
Below we take a closer look at the Fluent audience to get a better understanding of their holiday shopping habits. As a leading performance marketing company, Fluent creates immersive media experiences to engage with nearly one million consumers a day. Through these interactions, we gather information about shoppers and their purchase intent. We then use these self-declared insights to build precise audiences, helping our brand partners to connect with the right shoppers at the right time.
Audience Snapshot: Holiday Shoppers
23% of the Fluent audience has already started their holiday shopping, with 22% purchasing a gift on Amazon’s “Prime Day” shopping event in July. Though nearly 40% believe the discounts offered on Black Friday are worth dealing with the crowds and long lines, only 18% are planning to hit stores the day after Thanksgiving. Nearly half (46%) of the Fluent audience has not yet planned when they will do most of their shopping this holiday season.
Holiday Shopping: In-Store vs. Online Purchases
51% of respondents prefer to shop in a physical store versus on their phones (28%) or via a desktop or laptop computer (21%). While this may explain why only 4% of consumers surveyed plan to do most of their holiday shopping on Cyber Monday, free shipping (42%) and flash sales and discounts (30%) are the top two factors most likely to entice shoppers to buy gifts online. When it comes to e-commerce, respondents did not have a clear preference between purchasing gifts via Amazon (23%) or other retailer websites like Target or Walmart (22%).
Holiday Shopping: Most Popular Gifts of 2019
While 58% of the Fluent audience prefers to give their loved ones a physical holiday gift, more than half (66%) would prefer to receive money or a gift card in their stocking. 14% of those surveyed are planning to gift a subscription service this holiday season, with clothing boxes (JustFab, Frank and Oak, etc.), personal care boxes (Dollar Shave Club, Birchbox, etc.), and food/snack boxes (Graze, HelloFresh, etc.) among the most popular.
Check out the infographic for more findings:
