The majority of holiday shoppers are going to do quite a bit of homework before shelling out this season. According to a recent Accenture study, 69% of shoppers will partake in “webrooming,” which means perusing an item online before actually buying it at a brick-and-mortar store, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Nearly as many deal-seekers will check out the goods in person first, and then make a purchase later online. (And, yes, there's a name for that shopping technique, too.) Approximately 65% of us will “showroom," a.k.a. go to a physical store to get handsy with potential presents before hitting "buy" on an e-comm site. The study also found that shoppers will hand over lots of personal information to retailers in exchange for deals. More than half of people surveyed will provide retailers with intimate intel in order to nab discounts that suit their needs. By comparison, only 33% of shoppers were cool with giving personal details (and, likely, junking up their inboxes) in order to get a discount last year.
Nearly as many deal-seekers will check out the goods in person first, and then make a purchase later online. (And, yes, there's a name for that shopping technique, too.) Approximately 65% of us will “showroom," a.k.a. go to a physical store to get handsy with potential presents before hitting "buy" on an e-comm site. The study also found that shoppers will hand over lots of personal information to retailers in exchange for deals. More than half of people surveyed will provide retailers with intimate intel in order to nab discounts that suit their needs. By comparison, only 33% of shoppers were cool with giving personal details (and, likely, junking up their inboxes) in order to get a discount last year.
Also of note from the Accenture study: People are feeling pretty generous this season. Apparently, 40% plan to spend more on gifts this year than they have in the past. In 2014, 25% of shoppers intended to up their holiday budgets in 2014. This bump is "thanks to increased optimism around personal financial situations," according to WSJ.
Are you more of a webroom or a showroom type? We definitely get the value of seeing (and touching) something to make sure it's truly gift-worthy. After all, what you see is definitely not always what you get when it comes to e-comm. But, for all the modern conveniences that online shopping offers, we're also into setting foot in physical stores before making most purchases. Go figure...