More holiday shoppers will spend at least $500 on gifts this year

Dive Brief:

According to Tinuiti's 2019 survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers, the number of consumers that indicated they would spend at least $500 increased 10% from last year. Gen X consumers (shoppers aged 35 to 44) are expected to spend the most, with 36.3% of shoppers aged 35 to 44 and 28.6% of those aged 45 to 54 planning to spend more than $500 this year, per the report emailed to Retail Dive.
More than 40% of shoppers say they expect to purchase goods online and pick them up in-store. Nearly 54% of high spenders plan to use BOPIS, according to the report.
Forty-five percent of millennials and Gen Z shoppers returned gifts during the 2018 holiday season, and for those who did, nearly 20% of them returned at least one in five of the gifts they received, the report found.

Dive Insight:

Tinuiti's report offers more insights into gendered spending habits as well. A daVinci Payments report found that more than half of women respondents bought their holiday goods online, but how much are women planning to spend?

According to Tinuiti, 31.6% of men anticipate spending more than $500 during the upcoming holiday season, compared to 23% of women. Almost half (45%) of women plan to budget $250 or less for gifts. The gap widens among younger Gen X shoppers and millennial women.

While 41% of men between the ages of 35 and 44 anticipate spending more than $500, 45.8% of women in the same cohort expect to spend less than $250. For millennial women, 55.8% say they will pay $250 or less, but 43.4% of men said the same.

Like any other holiday season, shoppers will be looking for deals on gifts. The question for retailers is: What's the best way to reach them? The answer depends upon the medium and the age group.

Per the Tinuiti report, 58.5% of shoppers said that they sometimes or often make purchases because of email promotions, but only a third of respondents said social media is somewhat or very influential. Just over 50% of Gen Z consumers indicated that they were sometimes or often influenced by email marketing, but nearly 60% of consumers over the age of 35 said the same, according to the report.

On the other hand, 42.6% of Gen Z shoppers indicated that social media was at least somewhat influential; however, just over 30% of shoppers over the age of 35 reported making purchases based on social media.