Causeway Solutions | It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Shopping

It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Shopping

These are unusual times we are living in, and the winter holidays of 2021 will go down in history as the first post-Covid holiday “sort of” on record. We are no longer on lockdown, and most people are much more comfortable getting out and socializing, but the world is still quite different. From supply chain issues to spending, let’s take a look at how Americans are approaching the winter holidays this season!

Contrary to what you might think, people are feeling really good about money and the predictions for holiday spending are up! The National Retail Federation predicted a 2% growth in retail sales for November and December 2021, in comparison to the same time a year ago, with projections ranging from $843.4 billion to $859 billion during the holiday shopping season. NRF’s Jon Gold said, “In general, talking to members, despite all the challenges they’re facing, many feel they will have a better holiday season than last year.”

In a study of their customer base, Lowe’s Companies learned that more than 90% of those surveyed are planning to spend as much on holiday gifts this year as they did last year, if not more. The same study revealed that more than half of the consumer base plans to shop for these gifts before Thanksgiving.

Supply chain issues won’t stop shoppers, but it may decrease the number of sales retailers are willing to give. With out-of-stock messages up 172% from January 2020, according to Adobe, Inc., which tracks 18 categories, led by apparel, sporting goods, baby products, and electronics there won’t be as much to go around allowing retailers to keep prices level. The busy promotional activities of thousands of other retailers show that though the system is stressed and scrambling, it still works. And despite everything, it is doing what it is supposed to do.

A study from eMarketer shows that experts expect retail e-commerce sales to grow 16.1% to nearly $1 trillion in 2021, making up more than 1 in 10 dollars spent. The mobile market is expected to make up 39.4% of retail e-commerce dollars this year. Ninety percent of the consumers interviewed said that they plan to make at least some of their purchases online, 13% higher than last year. And where is all that spending going? Amazon is taking 41%, while Walmart comes in at a very distant second with 6.6%.

When all is said and done, Americans love the holidays, and it looks like this year will be no different. So where will they be spending these precious dollars? A study by Prosper Insights asked where consumers plan to shop this Holiday and showed that 57% were planning to shop online, 47% in department stores, 44% in discount stores, and 43% in grocery stores followed by a number of other venues.

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