Report: 94 percent of U.S. consumers to shop online this holiday season

In the second year of living with the pandemic, the holiday shopping season is not expected to return to the glory days of pre-Covid.

In 2020, 90 percent of U.S. consumers in America shopped more online, a trend that is unlikely to change. With 52.5 percent of Americans vaccinated and restrictions lifted in most places across the United States - including the re-opening of borders to international tourists - online shopping is forecasted to see the larger spend.

Research by DealAid.org in their “Holiday Shopping in the Second Year Of COVID-19 Pandemic” report surveyed 1060 American consumers, asking them, when and how they are planning to shop in Q4 of 2021.

The data shows 80.8 percent of consumers will continue to shop more online due to pandemic effects during holiday season 2021. With 45.3 percent citing Covid-19 a concern, other issues include inflation and (51 percent), low stock availability (45.3 percent), shipping times (40.6 percent) and availability of personal funds (31.3 percent).

Consumers plan to spend 974 dollars on average (a 4.7 percent increase vs. 2020), of which 670 dollars will be spent online. Shoppers expect to spend 10.1 percent more, on average, in-store during the 2021 holiday shopping season compared to 2020. Online shoppers expect to spend 2.4 percent more.

Amazon and Target will remain the most popular retailers for online (79.4 percent) and in-store (33.9 percent) respectively.

Where shoppers are shopping

35.9 percent of consumers plan to buy online and pick up in-store/curbside during 2021 holiday shopping season. 40.2 percent of consumers plan to shop and support local brick and mortar stores during Small Business Saturday. 13.7 percent of consumers plan to use Buy Now Pay Later to finance their purchases during 2021 holiday shopping season.

A total of 94.2 percent of consumers plan to shop online during the 2021 holiday shopping season.

Article source: DealAid.org