Consumers Increasingly Embrace Online Shopping, “Green” Shopping This Holiday SeasonSeventy-one percent of consumers will purchase online, making it the #2 shopping destination; almost half willing to pay more |
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NEW YORK, November 10, 2008 — Online retailing will continue to grow this holiday season, with a record 71 percent of consumers spending at least part of their holiday budgets on the Internet, according to Stacy Janiak, Deloitte’s U.S. Retail leader. “They want the option of touching and feeling a product in the store and then being able to order it at their convenience, and they don’t want to be told that a product purchased online can’t be returned to a local store. Particularly in this economic environment, a positive cross-channel experience can help retailers gain market share and differentiate their brands. Integrated channels also benefit retailers by allowing them to rationalize merchandise selection in their stores while fulfilling customer demand from an expanded online inventory.”
Green Retailing Remains a Big — and Growing — Draw
The survey also found that the “green” movement continues to build momentum. More than four out of 10 consumers (44 percent) are willing to pay extra for green gifts this holiday season. Of those, half say they are willing to pay between 10 to 25 percent more, while the remaining half are willing to pay 5 percent more.
Additionally, almost four in 10 (38 percent) surveyed say they will use fewer plastic bags from supermarkets and other stores this year — a significant increase over the 27 percent who said the same last year. One in five consumers (20 percent) say they will purchase more “eco-friendly” products this holiday season than they did in the past. A similar number (21 percent) say they will consider not wrapping holiday gifts to conserve paper.
“The big question around the green movement has always been how it translates into revenues for retailers,” said Janiak. “Our survey shows that a significant number of people will pay more for eco-friendly products, which tells us that this issue is becoming a key factor in consumers’ purchasing decisions. Like multichannel retailing, environmentally friendly strategies can help retailers differentiate their brands, capture consumers’ hearts and minds and increase share of wallet, particularly in this economic environment.”
Clothing Continues to Be a Popular Gift; Nintendo’s Wii Takes Top Honors
For the fifth year, clothing continued to be the second-most-popular gift category in the survey (gift cards have been #1 for five years); however, the popularity of clothing has fallen over the past several years. CDs/DVDs for music and movies were again #3 and toys and games were #4. Money and books were tied at #5.
The top gifts that consumers said they intend to buy for friends and family include Nintendo’s Wii gaming system, Apple’s iPod (which has been in the top 3 since 2005), Sony’s PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox. Other top gifts included two computer games — Wii Fit and Guitar Hero — Apple’s iPhone, Barbie, American Girl and Hannah Montana merchandise. The top “generic” gifts mentioned were televisions (HD, plasma, flat screen etc.), computers/laptops, GPS systems and digital cameras. As previously announced, the survey found that gift cards/certificates continued to be the #1 gift that consumers plan to buy; the top venues for these gift cards were Wal-Mart, Amazon and Target.
About the Survey
The survey was commissioned by Deloitte and conducted online by an independent research company between September 26 and October 7, 2008. The survey polled a sample of 13,276 consumers and has a margin of error for the entire sample of plus or minus one percentage point.
For more information about Deloitte’s Annual Holiday Survey, including interesting statistics, historical data and useful links, please visit www.deloitte.com/us/2008HolidaySurvey.
About Deloitte
As used in this document, “Deloitte” means Deloitte LLP and Deloitte Services LP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see
www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.
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