Market Intelligence: Holiday shopping to go 'social' this season
| Thursday, Nov 26 2009 12:00 PM
Last Updated Thursday, Nov 26 2009 12:00 PM
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Businesses looking for new ways to attract holiday shoppers during these tight economic times should consider spending more time socializing -- on MySpace or Facebook, that is!
Deloitte's 24th Annual Holiday Survey (a poll of more than 10,000 U.S. adults) finds that 17 percent of adult shoppers say they will use social media as part of their holiday shopping plans. (Overall, 22 percent of adults intend to shop primarily via the Web). If your online business strategy does not include a strong presence on key social networking sites, you risk losing prime holiday sales to Web-savvy competitors.
Reasons for using social media for holiday shopping:
Reason ... % of social media shoppers
Find sales or discounts ... 60 percent
Find coupons ... 60 percent
Research gift ideas ... 53 percent
Check family/friends wish lists ... 52 percent
While young adults are more likely to be fluent in social media (52 percent of adults age 18-29 will use social media to shop), older age groups also show relatively strong interest. Of those in the 30-44 age range, 33 percent plan to shop via social media; and 10 percent of adults ages 54 to 60 plan to do so.
Mobile phones will be the tool of choice for 19 percent of adult shoppers this holiday season.
Reason ... % plan to shop via smartphone
Look up store location ... 55 percent
Research lowest prices ... 45 percent
General product information ... 40 percent
Get coupons ... 32 percent
Find product reviews ... 31 percent
Bakersfield Perspective:
63 percent of Bakersfield adults use the Internet during an average month. Over the past 12 months, 47 percent of metro adults used the Web for shopping and 45 percent made an online purchase.
Amount spent online (past year) ... % of online shoppers
Less than $100 ... 9 percent
$100 to $249 ... 18 percent
$250 to $499 ... 23 percent
$500 to $999 ... 18 percent
$1,000 to $2,499 ... 19 percent
$2,500 or more ... 8 percent
Ways internet used (past month)
Download coupons ... 16 percent
Social networking ... 12 percent
87 percent of online shoppers in Bakersfield have a cell phone versus 75 percent of all metro adults.
Sample: 1,243 Bakersfield Metro adults
Source: Scarborough Research Survey 2009 R1
