News

High consumer optimism will spur holiday season sales

Photo by istock.com

September 27, 2019

An OpenX survey reveals high consumer optimism about the economy will fuel bigger holiday season spend and online shopping may grab more share than physical wallet spend.

The research, conducted by The Harris Poll, examines trends in consumer shopping, media consumption and effectiveness of advertising.

"Shoppers are overwhelmingly optimistic about the future, with more than 70 percent confident the economy will improve next year, according to the release. Nearly one-third of consumers — and half of millennials — plan to spend more than they did last year," stated a press release on the findings.

Other highlights include:

• Fifty percent of shoppers started planning their holiday gifts before September and 37% have already started making purchases.
• Consumers are more varied in shopping habits. From the 69% of consumers who admit to shopping at work, to the 13 percent of shoppers that primarily shop online after 11 p.m., consumers have made it clear they want to shop on their own terms. Millennials will shop more on mobile than a desktop/laptop, and expect 4% of their shopping to happen on a smart speaker like Google Home or Amazon Echo.

"The 2019 report has a number of firsts, including it being the first year consumers expect to conduct the majority of their shopping online and via mobile devices, eschewing in-store experiences for the convenience of digital," said Dallas Lawrence, chief brand officer at OpenX, in the release. "Millennials are more optimistic about their economic future than any other age group and this optimism will lead them to spend more this year than any group tested,” he added.