Nearly Half of Consumers Haven’t Completed Any of Their Holiday Shopping Yet

According to a recent report from Compete, nearly half of consumers hadn’t completed any of their holiday shopping as of the end of October, while one in 10 completed more than half of their holiday shopping already.

Compete found that as of Oct. 30, 49 percent of consumers haven’t completed any of their holiday shopping. Meanwhile, 20 percent said they completed 1-10 percent of their holiday shopping, while 15 percent said they completed 11-25 percent and 6 percent said they completed 26-50 percent.

Just 4 percent said they completed 51-75 percent of their holiday shopping, while 6 percent said they completed 75 percent or more of their holiday shopping.

In response to the question “What types of products did you buy last week as part of your holiday shopping?” as of Oct. 30, 47 percent said toys/games, up from 31 percent as of Oct. 16. Meanwhile, 14 percent said books, down from 30 percent in the prior period; 31 percent said electronics, up from 28 percent; 25 percent said movies/video games, down from 27 percent; 20 percent said clothing/shoes, down from 27 percent; and 32 percent said gift cards, up from 22 percent.

In response to the question “How much did you spend on holiday purchases last week online and in-store?” as of Oct. 30, the figure was $190.13 for online, up from $140.49. Meanwhile, the figure stood at $264.40 for in-store as of Oct. 30, up from $183.66 in the previous period.

Walmart was the most popular retailer from which consumers purchased from in-store last week as of Oct. 30, with 33 percent of the response. Best Buy followed with 26 percent, while Kohl’s got 22 percent of the response and Target get 12 percent.

Macy’s received a 17 percent response, up dramatically from the 8 percent observed as of Oct. 16.

According to Responsys’ Retail Email Index, during the week ending Nov. 11, the top online retailers sent each of their subscribers 4.0 promotional emails, up 8 percent week-over-week and up 17 percent from where the number was four week prior. This number was also up 17 percent year-over-year.

Forty percent of major online retailers sent out at least one promotional email last Saturday, Nov. 5. This participation crept up as the week wore on, reaching 45 percent on Nov. 6, 57 percent on Nov. 7, 48 percent on Nov. 8, 53 percent on Nov. 9, 51 percent on Nov. 10, and 69 percent on Nov. 11.

“With a number of retailers running “Black Friday Every Friday” campaigns, Friday was the most popular day to send retail emails last week,” noted Chad White, research director at Responsys. “In fact, Friday’s participation rate of 69% tied that of Black Friday last year, a clear sign that this year’s Black Friday email volume will be greater than last year’s.”

About 55 percent of retail emails contained a reference to the holidays/Christmas during the week ending Nov. 11, according to Responsys.

Sources:

http://blog.compete.com/2011/11/04/compete-holiday-insights%E2%84%A2-2011/

http://www.retailemailblog.com/2011/11/week-end-trends-email-already-reaching.html