It’s Not Too Late to Cash in on Holiday Spending

November 3, 2016

New data from the National Retail Federation (NRF) forecasts holiday sales to reach $655.8 billion, an increase of 3.6% from last holiday season, with the year-over-year growth outpacing 2015 by 0.4%.

Non-store holiday sales, including online sales, direct-to-consumer, and kiosk numbers, are estimated to jump 7% to $112.35 billion this year.

When Will They Buy?
It’s not too late … more than two out of five (41%) consumers don’t plan to start their holiday shopping until November, while another 18% won’t start until December.

In addition, NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay says that “retailers should prepare for a rush of consumers in the weeks following the presidential election as they get more political certainty and are looking to take advantage of promotions and deals that are too good to pass up.”

According to Shay, another reason to anticipate that more consumers will get into the holiday spirit once the election has passed, is that political ads have been taking up ad space that retailers typically use to get holiday shopping on the minds of consumers across the country.

What Do They Want?
Gift Cards top the list, although women are more likely to wish for gift cards (69% vs. 53%). Men prefer gadgets – 41% want consumer electronics vs. 24% of women.

• Gift Cards/Gift Certificates: 61.0%
• Clothing/Clothing Accessories: 53.5%
• Books, CDs, DVDs, Videos or Video Games: 40.0%
• Consumer Electronics or Computer Related Accessories: 32.0%
• Jewelry or Precious Metal Accessories: 23.2%
• Home Décor or Home Related Furnishings: 23.1%
• Personal Care or Beauty Items: 20.6%
• Sporting Goods or Leisure Items: 18.8%
• Home Improvement Items or Tools: 17.1%
• Other: 6.6%

Where Will They Buy?
The top destinations for holiday shopping are:

• Department Stores: 56.6%
• Online: 56.5%
• Discount Stores: 55.7%
• Grocery Store/Supermarket: 44.5%
• Clothing or Accessories Store: 33.6%
• Electronics Store: 26.9%
• Local/Small Business: 22.7% (remember that Small Business Saturday is November 26th)

Now that you can show your advertisers when, what, and where consumers plan to do their holiday shopping, make sure they know how to drive consumers to their websites and locations … through Radio and your station of course! Need some data to back that up? Research Director is here to help!

—Karen Blanks, CRMC, Sales Research Consultant

Source: National Retail Federation, 2016 Holiday Headquarters

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