A survey of U.S. consumers shows that consumers welcome the longer shopping season, with more than 40% of holiday shoppers starting shopping earlier than usual for clothing. Once again, it has become consumers’ first choice for shopping.
According to the annual survey released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and ProsperInsights&Analytics, as of early November, 59% of shopping season buyers said they had started purchasing, compared with A 21% increase ten years ago.
Despite this, there is still a lot of shopping to be done. On average, holiday shoppers say they are only 26% done with their purchases so far.
NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay said: Retailers have demonstrated their commitment and ability to ensure a safe shopping environment for customers and colleagues. As consumers look to complete their shopping lists as early as possible this year, retailers are preparing to launch deeper discounts, strong inventory, and provide excellent shopping experiences (whether in-store or online) to meet this wave of shopping season demand.
Retailers’ top priority is to ensure the health and safety of employees and customers, and current investments in protection are paying off. The vast majority (70%) of shopping season buyers said that given the protective measures taken by retailers to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, they felt safe shopping in physical stores during this shopping season.
Retailers have been preparing their shelves for this year’s shopping season since October and offering various holiday promotions. As a result, 69% of shopping season buyers said they can find the products they need at all or most of the time, and 84% of consumers are confident that they will receive the products they ordered online for the holidays on time.
Phil Rist, executive vice president of strategy at Prosper, said: Consumers have welcomed the longer shopping season this year, with many retailers choosing to open their doors on the traditional Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Before the big rush, lay out some special promotions to attract shoppers. In the long run, these additional special offers will provide more choices for shopping season shoppers.
According to 54% of the respondents, similar to recent years, clothing and accessories are the most popular gift items, followed by gift cards/gift certificates ( 49%), toys (37%), books and other communication tools (34%), food/candy (28%).
This survey was conducted on 8,362 adult consumers from November 2 to 9, 2020, with an error value of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.
