Survey: Expect more holiday spending, ‘blended retail’ shopping this year

A new NPD Group holiday shopping report [free with registration] has three big themes for retailers and marketers: higher spending, earlier shopping and “blended shopping.” The survey sample consisted of 3,605 consumers that were representative of the US adult population.

Spending about $700 on holiday shopping. The positive economy is having an impact on anticipated consumer spending. NPD found that on average consumers expect to spend between $693 and $750 on holiday shopping this year.

It also appears that consumers are getting an earlier start than in the past. NPD said almost 50 percent of consumers will have done some or most of their shopping “before Thanksgiving.”

‘Blended retail.’ Most consumers shop both online and in traditional stores. NPB found “more than three-quarters (77 percent) of consumers [are] planning to do at least some of their holiday shopping online over the holidays,” while about 60 percent said they would shop both online and offline.

However, 28 percent of respondents said that they preferred to do most of their shopping online. Seven percent said they would buy gifts online and pick up in store.

What matters to marketers. The very real challenge for pure play digital retailers is gaining visibility and competing with both ecommerce units of traditional retailers and Amazon. Traditional retailers, by contrast, have natural advantages but many of them are not good at combining both online and offline assets in a seamless customer experience. But those that can are in a very strong position to see meaningful revenue growth in 2019.