According to a new study, shoppers with ‘a lot of cheer’ plan on spending more this holiday season.
ChargeItSpot, a provider of cell phone charging stations for major retailers, events, and other indoor public venues, has announced the results of its first-annual “Retail Holiday Shopping Report.”
The study looked at cheer – defined as how happy one was at the time of the survey – and shopping behavior among thousands of in-store holiday shoppers. For the study—which took place between Nov. 24 and Dec. 7—nearly 4,000 shoppers were polled via ChargeItSpot kiosks at 22 malls across the country.
Some 59% of shoppers said they had “a lot of cheer” this holiday shopping season. Meanwhile, 30% (27%) of shoppers claimed to have “little” to “no cheer.” Fourteen percent had “some cheer.”
“The cheer quotient this holiday season is fairly strong,” said Douglas Baldasare, CEO and founder of ChargeItSpot. “But it could certainly be stronger. It does seem that the numbers are trending upward, however, as the month progresses and we get closer to the holidays.”
The most cheerful are the most generous across the board. On a scale of one to five —one being the least amount of cheer and five being the most, respondents were also asked how much money they planned on devoting to gifts this holiday season. The shoppers with the most cheer (4.33) planned on spending more than $1,000, while shoppers with the second most cheer planned to spend between $600 and 1,000 (4.11). And shoppers who planned to spend no money had the least amount of holiday cheer (2.55).
Overall, 26% of shoppers plan on spending between $1 and $100 on gifts this holiday season. Seventeen percent of shoppers plan to spend more than $1,000, followed by 16% at $100 to $300, and 10% each at the $300 to $600 and $600 to $1,000 ranges.
“Seventeen percent of in-store shoppers will spend more than $1,000 and, combined, nearly 30% will spend at least $600,” said Baldasare. “These are positive numbers for retailers.”
Millennials = Least Cheerful
Shoppers between age 40 and 49 and shoppers under 21 were tied for first with the most cheer, rating their cheer as an average 3.75. This was followed by 30-39 and 50-plus (both tied 3.56). The bulk of Millennial shoppers, however—those between the ages of 22 and 29—rated the least amount of cheer (3.48).
“Older shoppers are likely shopping for the younger generations surveyed,” added Baldasare. “As the study found, those spending the most money on gifts are the most cheerful, which aligns with the 40-49 age group. And we all know that those under 21 are typically more anticipating of their abundance of presents, which we assume is the driver for their elevated cheer. On the other hand, most Millennials we surveyed were not nearly as cheerful. One potential explanation—a recent report found that the average graduate leaves college with roughly $29,000 in total debt due to student loans, (CNBC “Millennial shoppers say they’re ready to spend this holiday. But skeptics aren’t so sure,” 2016) Shopping isn’t as fun when spend is limited.”
