Nov 13, 2015

A Sprint or a Marathon? By Tim Hodson

Even though Thanksgiving is still a week-and-a-half away, the holiday shopping season is already here.

For some consumers, shopping for Christmas gifts is a marathon as they shop all year long, but for the last-minute shoppers it’s a sprint as they make a mad dash for the Dec. 25 finish line.

According to the National Retail Federation’s Consumer Holiday Spending Survey, 57 percent of those celebrating the holidays had already started shopping by early November. That is up from 54 percent in 2014 and 16 percent from the 49 percent who had started by this time in 2008, the first time NRF conducted the survey.

Matthew Shay, president and CEO of the NRF, said retailers and shoppers alike no longer consider Black Friday as the beginning of the holiday shopping season. “There is a real sea change happening in retail when it comes to the how, when, where and why of holiday shopping. Consumers today are looking for great prices and value-add promotions earlier than ever before, and retailers have answered these demands in several different ways already this holiday season,” Shay said.

“While there are many ‘Type A’ holiday shoppers who love to get an early start on their wish lists, it’s also likely some of the early shopping we’ve seen has been in the form of ‘self-gifting,’ and there’s no question Millennials love treating themselves to something when the price is right,” adds Pam Goodfellow of Proper Insights & Analytics, the market research firm that conducted the survey for the NRF. “

Shoppers still turn to traditional methods of advertising when looking for inspiration for gift ideas. However, online searches and social media are becoming the preferred inspiration channels. According to the survey, 47 percent will use an online search to find their gifts and more than 35 percent will look for inspiration for holiday gifts through advertising circulars. Additionally, 30 percent will look to catalogs, 31 percent will use TV ads and 13 percent will turn to Facebook.

It’s Nov. 16, is your business ready for the holidays? Are YOU ready for the holidays? Will 2015 be a marathon or a sprint?

Drop me a line at thodson@greatamericanpublish.com and let me know.

– Tim