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2012 Holiday Gift Shopping Outcomes

2012 Holiday Gift Shopping Outcomes and Implications for 2013

Jana De Anda
TrendSource, Inc.
January 2013

Consumers Are Still Looking For Discounts After the Holidays

Over One Third of Consumers Were Under Budget for 2012 Holiday Gifts

The 2012 holiday season is now behind us. Decorations have been put away and holiday gifts are in use. Some of us might be rejoicing in the savings we achieved against our holiday budgets, while others might be planning to pay off debt incurred on holiday gifts last year. What we can all count on is the search for good deals and discount items.

"With Valentine’s Day just around the corner and birthdays year-round, the sentiments echoed from the respondents of this survey will be useful to retailers" says Jana De Anda, VP of Sales and Marketing for TrendSource, Inc.

The two-part study revealed that pre-holiday results stating that over 50% of consumers would be hesitant to purchase without a discount was consistent with post-holiday results in which 67 to 70% of all consumers bought more than half of their total purchases on sale items during the 2012 holiday season.

Consumers are so budget-conscious that 29 to 32% of them continue to check for better prices on their mobile devices while in physical retail locations. With showrooming becoming an increasing challenge for retailers, the importance of creating an engaging customer experience that differentiates them from the online buying experience is critical. The survey results reveal that the frequency of checking for better prices while in-store was significantly more pervasive amongst millennials than older demographics. As the purchasing power of this cohort increases over the next decade, the concern will continue to rise.

These conscious buying behaviors resulted in more consumers purchasing holiday gifts in fashion and apparel than their stated intentions and less in electronics than their initial stated intentions. Given that government fiscal decisions are still pending, these results indicate that the budget-conscious consumer is more likely to shop for fashion/apparel gifts in early 2013 over electronics.

Retailers have some challenges in 2013, but they can also use consumer insights like those recapped in this study to target marketing efforts and manage merchandising and display strategies in an informed manner.

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