While physical gift card purchases and receipts are still preferred over digital, both awareness and actual use of digital gifts is growing, with male shoppers leading the way, says research from Stored Value Solutions. The research also suggests that adoption can be accelerated by making users, both givers and receivers, comfortable with the form factor.
Anyone looking for more proof that holiday shopping begins earlier has some new statistics to cite: 56.6 percent of those celebrating the holidays had begun shopping by early November, up from 54.4 percent last year and up further from the 49 percent who had started by this time in 2008, the first time the National Retail Federation asked the question.
The majority of U.S. shoppers plan to do the bulk of their holiday shopping this year online. But retailers know that not all shoppers are created equal, and new research highlights some of the differences.
Nearly half of online retailers are "very" or "extremely" confident that holiday sales this season will outperform last year, according to a new survey by Bigcommerce.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. will open offices in three European countries and expand further in the U.S. as it seeks to revive growth and reassure jittery investors.
RetailNext has predicted a positive U.S. retail performance for the months of November through December. Over the holidays, sales are expected to rise 2.8 percent, driven in large part by an exceptional 16.2 percent increase in digital sales.
Sixty percent of Americans created or used an online account with a retailer in the last 12 months, which suggests convenience ranks top-of-mind for U.S. shoppers, according to Worldpay, a global payments company. In fact, 47 percent said they create online accounts because it is quicker and easier to shop.
The National Retail Federation expects sales in November and December (excluding autos, gas and restaurant sales) to increase a solid 3.7 percent to $630.5bn - significantly higher than the 10-year average of 2.5 percent. Holiday sales in 2015 are expected to represent approximately 19 percent of the retail industry’s annual sales of $3.2 tr. Additionally, NRF is forecasting online sales to increase between 6 and 8 percent to as much as $105bn.
