"Shoppers anticipate spending just as much online as they do in stores this year— representing a significant milestone in holiday purchase behavior."
2016 Deloitte Holiday Survey, Rod Sides, October 25, 2016
Deloitte has issued its 31st annual Holiday Survey and they are predicting a strong Christmas shopping season with some notable surprises; the biggest one being the eye opening jump in online shopping. "Deloitte forecasts a 17–19 percent increase in e-commerce sales, reaching $96–98 billion between November 2016 and January 2017."
To save you time, I have reviewed the survey and here is a synopsis of what I see as the key take aways:
- Americans are feeling optimistic about their own financial situation and the economy in general. The election, despite the doom and gloom, has not dampened spirits. In fact, 45% of those surveyed expect the economy to grow. This is up 3% from last year.
- 74% of those surveyed plan to spend as much as they did in 2015 or more.
- I have studied their graph of spending and, surprisingly, it appears that they are projecting a slight downward trend in spending on toys, perhaps – 2%. It appears that the major spending will be on gift cards and clothes.
- Foot traffic to Big Box stores will drop 4% this year. Their loss is the Internet's gain.
- The survey offers good news for local merchants. The report states: "Among shoppers planning to try something new, local stores and businesses (66 percent) are at the top of the list, followed by new websites (52 percent)." ASTRA take note.
- Webrooming is on the increase. Retailers have long bemoaned showrooming, the act of finding what a consumer likes in a store but buying it online. Webrooming, however, presents the opposite in which consumers find what they like on line and then buy it at a bricks and mortar location. According to the survey, more people are webrooming than showrooming.
- Its an interesting survey and you may want to review it online by clicking here.