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Many retailers–whether owned by black entrepreneurs or white–will get an early gift with Americans expected to spend more this holiday shopping season than last year, a new survey shows.
Consumers overall are anticipated to spend $1,536 versus $1,226 a year ago, according to the 2018 Deloitte Holiday Survey of Consumers. A stronger economy and rising consumer confidence are among the biggest contributing factors for the gain and bullish outlook.
Holiday sales could top $1.1 trillion this year, up 5-5.6% from 2017. Online sales could reach $128 billion, rising some 17-22%. Purchases online will make up 57% of total sales while 36% will come from stores.
Mobile usage to buy goods for the festive season keeps rising, but other digital platforms like desktop, laptop, tablet, and social media are flattening in usage.
When it comes to giving presents to others, gift cards/certificates, clothing, and toys are respectively the top picks for consumers.
The average spend on gift cards this holiday season is projected at $139, up from $113 last year, and some 78% of people plan to shop for themselves during the holidays, spending cash mainly on food and liquor, clothing, and shoes.
The top destinations to buy goods this year will be online retailers and auction sites. Sixty percent of people will buy goods at those spots versus 55% in 2017. Conversely, 32% of us are likely to shop at traditional department stores, up 4% from 2017.
Naturally, the trend of online retailers giving brick-and-mortar stores beefed-up competition continues to rise.
Yet for consumers who plan to actually shop in stores instead of online, 60% plan to do so to interact with the product.
The ability to not pay shipping costs and shopping inside of stores for inspiration is why almost half of consumers – actually 47% each – will buy goods those ways.
There are other reasons for shopping in-store: It’s more fun and put folks in the holiday spirit, easier to make returns later and fulfills the need to buy goods immediately.
The survey was developed by Deloitte and done online by an independent research firm in September 2018. A national sample of 4,036 consumers were polled.
Jeffrey McKinney
Jeffrey McKinney is a long-time freelance business writer and reporter, contributing to Black Enterprise magazine for several years on broad range of business and financial topics. He also writes regularly for Franchise Times, a highly regarded publication covering the franchise industry.
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