Shoppers Go Big This Holiday season

With the holiday season fast approaching it’s officially the season of spending. So how will this season fare?

According to the National Retail Federation's Holiday Consumer Spending Survey, shoppers will be spending big this holiday season. To be specific consumers are looking at spending an average of more than $130 for themselves. That's up more than $5 over last year.

The survey, conducted by Prosper Insights and analytics, looks at consumers celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah and/or Kwanzaa and reveals that this year they will spend an average of $805.65 on food items, decorations, gifts and more over the holiday season, the highest amount in the survey’s 14-year history.

And when it comes to food, the survey says that shoppers will spend an average of $107.80.

So how exactly will customers shop? Online is, no surprise, a big appeal! And of those who plan to shop online, 46.5 percent say they will take advantage of retailers buy-online, pick-up-in-store or ship-to-store options. Free shipping is the most anticipated promotion however with 93.1 percent of online shoppers say they will use a free shipping offer when shopping for holiday merchandise.

Millennial online shoppers will be making good use of same day delivery, according to the survey 16.7 percent of 18-24 year olds and 15.9 percent of 25-34 year olds will use a same-day delivery option when buying gifts, décor and other holiday items, compared to just 7.8 percent of the rest of the population.

And finally, mobile engagement will be big among holiday shoppers. The survey found that 21.4 percent of smart phone owners will use their device to purchase holiday merchandise this year, the highest seen since NRF first asked in 2011. 

All these insights are great for supermarkets when it comes to understanding how, and how much consumers plan to shop this season. Whether it’s through sales, promotions, online deals, delivery specials and holiday tips and recipe ideas, supermarkets need to make sure their holiday strategy is in line with what consumers want.