The holiday season is nearly upon us, with Thanksgiving just about a week away. After we finish stuffing ourselves with turkey, the race begins for Christmas shopping, although some already have taken an early head start to it. 24/7 Wall St. is taking a closer look at holiday spending and what consumers are going after this year. It may come as no surprise that the new Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) iPhone 7 is topping most Christmas lists.
Qualtrics, a leading insights and customer experience company, released a survey that takes into account the process consumers go through to buy gifts during the holiday shopping season.
What really stands out in this study is that the majority of shoppers (78%) are planning to spend less than $1,000 this holiday season. The study further breaks down by demographics how reviews, seasonal sales, promotions and other forces factor into how that limited cash will be spent, but here we are going to focus on just a few of the main takeaways.
According to the study, clothing and toys/games are what most people plan to give as gifts this year. As mentioned, the iPhone 7 is the most wished for tech gift on our list this year.
A majority of consumers (62%) are now price checking between online and in-person stores while holiday shopping. Although most consumers check out the prices online before they buy, only 32% of consumers don’t read any product reviews before they buy holiday gifts.
Millennials are two times more likely than boomers and GenX-ers to learn about holiday gift ideas from social media.
A recent trend has more and more stores opening on Thanksgiving, allowing for early Black Friday shopping, but 41% of consumers surveyed think stores shouldn’t be open on Thanksgiving. At the same time, 45% of consumers wouldn’t camp out for a Black Friday sale, no matter how much they save.
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