Holiday Shoppers Are Changing: Here's How to Adapt Your Marketing

How much will consumers spend on the year-end holidays? There is no shortage of news reports highlighting the economic stress consumers feel. Despite the stress, new data from Salsify show there’s reason for optimism this year. And when your accounts have access to holiday shopper profiles from AudienceSCAN, they can be sure they’re optimizing their ad spending.

Who will be spending more this year?

Salsify analysts report that millennial shoppers will be mostly like to spend more this year, compared to last year. In fact, 33% of this group will allocate bigger budget to holiday shopping activity. Because so many millennials are parents of Gen Alpha kids, it’s also likely that the interests of these kids will influence what gets purchased. That’s a detail your accounts should keep in mind when they’re crafting holiday promotions.

Overall, around 25% of U.S. adults will spend more than last year. And these holiday shoppers will be looking for bargains. Around 19% started shopping between January and April and belong in the early-bird group. Peak season shoppers, 58% of U.S. adults, are a much bigger target for marketers, and these consumers will be out in force between September and December.

What are the top holiday shopper profiles?

While almost all consumers shop during the year-end holiday season, heavy spending occurs on specific days. AudienceSCAN provides complete profiles for consumers who shop on these days:

Black Friday Shoppers

AudienceSCAN reports that nearly 22% of U.S. adults will venture into stores on Black Friday. Around 39% of shoppers surveyed by Salsify believe Black Friday is their opportunity to capture significant deals.

Cyber Monday Shoppers

Well over 25% of U.S. adults will make purchases on Cyber Monday, according to AudienceSCAN. And Salsify finds that 36% of shoppers believe that they can find great deals on Cyber Monday

Super Saturday Shoppers

Some shoppers like to hold out when buying gifts. They’re either procrastinating or they’re expecting big discounts. Around 12% of U.S. adults made purchases on Super Saturday, the last day before Christmas. But even more consumers say they are Christmas Eve shoppers: 17% of U.S. adults.

What sources influence gift purchases?

Your accounts might ask if their ad spending makes an impact on consumer holiday shopping decisions. Salsify data indicates that CTV video ads (19%) and print ads (9%) provide ideas. In addition, 5% of holiday shoppers noticed podcast ads and 27% said that social media posts made an impression as they considered what to purchase.

What verticals will benefit from consumer holiday shopping?

The top categories for U.S. consumer spending will break out as follows:

• Fashion and apparel 61%
• Personal care and beauty 42%
• Electronics 5

From a marketing perspective, remind your accounts to emphasize the U.S. origin of the products they’re selling. The 250^th anniversary of our country will still resonate with consumers through the holiday shopping period. Salsify analysts point out that 35% of shoppers will hunt for holiday gifts that are U.S. made.

How big is the self-gifting trend?

While consumers are spending money on others, they also like to buy gifts for themselves. At least 16% of U.S. adults purchase holiday and birthday gifts for themselves. And Salsify reports that younger consumers, millennials and Gen Zers are more likely than others to use AI for this purpose. Specifically, they check out the AIO search results box.

Your accounts should focus on developing well-written and well-structured content to increase their chances of appearing in the AIO search box. To learn which keywords and strategies work best for your accounts, check out the AI Search Visibility tool in AdMall.

The National Retail Federation reported that last year’s holiday shopping exceeded $1T for the first time. Earlier this year, eMarketer projected a 2.6% increase in holiday spending this year. That increase may be about even with inflation which means that unit sales may not increase over last year. This added market pressure means your accounts need to roll out the best advertising plan to reach holiday shoppers.

Image by Valent Lau on Pexels.