97th Floor, an integrated digital marketing agency, released a new study that uncovers insights into Black Friday and holiday shopping trends amidst the 2020 pandemic. COVID-19 has altered lives around the globe, and its effects are stretching into this year’s holiday shopping season.
97th Floor commissioned an independent research study of US shoppers to understand their hopes, fears and behaviors on the 2020, COVID-19-influenced holiday retail landscape.
“The results confirmed our expectations while introducing new factors into 2020’s holiday shopping experience,” says 97th Floor CEO Paxton Gray. “Nearly every retail business has high hopes for the holiday season sales bump this year, but this year will be unlike any before. There’s a lot marketers can do to create systems that allow for quick pivots and increased revenue this holiday season.”
Key highlights from the 97th Floor’s 2020 Holiday Shopping Consumer Study include:
- 52% of shoppers say they expect they’ll never shop in person again for the holidays
- 68% of shoppers say they plan to do most of their shopping online this year because of COVID-19
- 48% of shoppers worry more about having a holiday package stolen from their doorstep than catching COVID-19
- 81% of shoppers say that even if retailers offer great in-store experiences for the holidays, they’re still not sure they’d want to shop in person
- 19% of shoppers want to change the term “Black Friday” to something less racial
- 1 in 3 shoppers say they plan to wear a mask even when shopping online this holiday
- 30% of shoppers say they would rather step on a lego than get stuck in a holiday store crowd this season
- Only 20% say they’re in definitely in “a shopping mood” this holiday season
- 88% of parents aren’t sure they will let their kids sit on Santa’s lap this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- 54% of shoppers say they want to do their holiday shopping by early November to avoid crowds
- 30% of retailers are hurting financially, but 73% of shoppers plan to spend as much or less as last season
- 45% of shoppers say they are more likely to get injured in a Black Friday doorbuster sale than catch COVID-19
- Only 26% of people who have been to a midnight Black Friday doorbuster say it was worth it
This study was created based on the responses of 1,000 US shoppers and respondents were incentivized for participation. Survey was double blind, and the margin of error is +/- 3.1% at the 95% confidence level.
