What, Exactly, Is Influencing Our Holiday Gift Choices? (Infographic) For starters, think free shipping, online reviews and, yes, it's still relevant: in-store shopping.
By AJ Gerritson
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
It's the most wonderful time of the year, but because there's a lot of money being spent to create that wonder, we at 451 Marketing were curious to learn just how 2016's savvy consumers planned to tackle their holiday shopping.
After all, the proliferation of technology and paths to purchase are having a massive ripple effect on brands and retailers, requiring more nuanced strategies than ever before across PR, social media, SEO, email marketing and design.
Related: Ecommerce Is Growing, But Customers Still Prefer Shopping in Stores
What better way to unravel the complex web of influences on today's holiday shopper than to go directly to the source? So, now, after surveying 500 consumers nationwide, from millennials, to Gen-Xers, to baby boomers, we believe our results shed some light on the season's most updated level of complexity.
Some of our findings?
- 76 percent of shoppers surveyed indicated that free shipping would influence them to move forward with a purchase
- 46 of shoppers said they'd consulted online reviews before making a purchase, beating out any exploration of brand and retailer sites, use of price-comparison sites and research into products in-store
- 75 percent of shoppers aged 18-24 (millennials) said they spend less than $500 on holiday gifts
