Holiday Shoppers Do Their Homework Before Buying
With the holiday shopping season about to go into high gear, consumers are doing a lot of research before they open up their wallets for gifts.
According to a study by the The NPD Group Inc., a consumer and retail information research firm, 45 percent of shoppers said they would be doing plenty of comparison shopping before spending any money. Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry analyst, said this is the largest number of people doing comparison shopping in the last five years. Another 37 percent said they planned to buy all of their gifts on sale.
The Internet has made comparison shopping even easier, which is why 61 percent of consumers said they would boot up their computers and do some online research to figure out where to get the best deals. Another 35 percent use catalogs, and 23 percent use TV ads to determine where to buy.
Price is the underlying determining factor on whether to buy or not to buy. Sixty-two percent said price was paramount when deciding where to shop.
“Consumers have come to expect deeper and deeper discounts as the holiday season wears on,” Cohen said. “And they have also come to expect that the products they want will be available whenever they get around to purchasing them. I’m not so sure that will work in their favor this year.”
Retailers are keeping lean inventories, remembering last year, when they were stuck with a glut of merchandise.—Deborah Belgum
