The formal November-December definition is ‘meaningless’ this year—and perhaps forever—due to the pandemic’s dramatic effects on shopping behaviors and long-bubbling retail trends now accelerated by the pandemic, according to US-based consulting firm AlixPartners, which recently included October in its definition of the holiday shopping season for the first time.
It released its forecast for US retail holiday sales based on a new consumer survey, which showed , almost half of Americans plan to begin their holiday shopping before Halloween (October 31).The formal November-December definition is 'meaningless' this year-and perhaps forever-due to the pandemic's dramatic effects on shopping behaviors and long-bubbling retail trends now accelerated by the pandemic, according to consulting firm AlixPartners, which recently included October in its definition of the holiday-shopping season for the first time.#
AlixPartners’ forecast for this newly defined October-through-December holiday season is an increase in sales of 1 to 2.6 per cent over the same three-month period last year, when sales totaled $1.132 trillion.
Meanwhile, the firm’s survey, an annual poll of more than 1,000 consumers, showed 49 per cent of consumers plan to start holiday shopping by Halloween or earlier, an increase of 7 percentage points from last year’s survey.
Forty five per cent of Americans plans to do the majority of holiday shopping online, an amount up 15 percentage points from last year’s survey. Additionally, it found 23 per cent expect to spend less on holiday shopping this year than last year, which is a deterioration of 7 points from last year’s survey, while the percentage of those planning to spend the same or more dropped to 76 per cent, from 85 per cent.
Notably, of those earning more than $100,000 annually 84 per cent said they expect to spend the same or more, the company said in a press release.
The top retail categories where consumers plan to spend the same or more this season were apparel (cited by 80 per cent), toys (77 per cent), footwear (75 per cent) and electronics & video games (74 per cent). Meanwhile, 37 per cent said they expect to spend more on American-made products this year, up 6 points from last year’s survey.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)
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