Oct. 21, 2009 (Business Wire) -- The Accenture Holiday Shopping Survey released today finds that, although consumers intend to shop early this holiday season, a problem may be in store for retailers as shoppers fail to find the discounts that they expect.
“Holiday shopping in 2008 was defined by the huge discounts that were available – and available very early in the holiday season. In 2009, however, retailers will be reticent to offer such generous incentives in the face of rising commodity prices,” said Janet Hoffman, managing director of Accenture’s Retail practice.
The survey of 526 U.S. consumers found that 69 percent of shoppers expect to do the bulk of their holiday shopping by December 7 (vs. 60 percent in 2008) and more shoppers will shop on “Black Friday” – the day after Thanksgiving – this year (52 percent vs. 42 percent in 2008). However, the vast majority of consumers (86 percent) will not be moved to buy without a discount of at least 20 percent, and a quarter of shoppers will be looking for an aggressive 50 percent discount before they open their wallets.
“We have seen a ‘shift to thrift’ across all income levels during this economic downturn and breaking that habit will be the greatest challenge for retailers this holiday season,” Hoffman said. “The winners this season will be the smart retailers that use the right customer data to offer the ‘value’ shoppers are looking for without destroying their margins.”
The survey did offer a glimmer of hope for retailers that can deliver the right deal to consumers. Despite a growing number of consumers who plan to set a holiday shopping budget (63 percent vs. 54 percent in 2008), the survey shows that more shoppers admit that they can be enticed into breaking their budgets (44 percent vs. 40 percent in 2008). The survey also showed that the majority of shoppers (62 percent) plan to spend more than $250 on holiday gifts this year.
Discount retailers will attract the most shoppers this season – 85 percent of survey respondents plan to shop at those stores. At the same time, 45 percent of the respondents said that they would be shopping at department stores and just 5 percent are planning to shop at luxury goods retailers.
Consumers have gone cold on “hot” gift items with only 27 percent of respondents having one on their shopping list this year. Gift cards, on the other hand, are gaining momentum as nearly four out of five respondents (79 percent) say will be buying gift cards this holiday season. Troubling for retailers, however, is the survey finding that 44 percent of gift card recipients will maximize the value of the card by purchasing discounted items and a quarter (25 percent) will use their gift cards to buy regular, staple products rather than treating themselves to something more expensive. This is the exact opposite of the trend of the previous two holiday shopping seasons.
