Loss Prevention Research Council Weekly Series - Episode 69 - Holiday Sales Trends and One Minute on the Internet
With Dr. Read Hayes, Tony D'Onofrio, and Tom Meehan
Most consumers will make a majority of holiday purchases online
https://chainstoreage.com/most-consumers-will-make-majority-holiday-purchases-online
Early indications on how this holiday season will evolve for shopping.
According to a new survey of consumers across the U.S., U.K., and Australia, 57% of respondents plan to conduct the majority of their holiday shopping online. Three-quarters of respondents said they would purchase more from a website that allowed them to message with an expert to ask questions and get help making purchases, and 62% said they would trust an online retailer more if associates were readily available on messaging.
In addition, 63% of respondents said they would purchase more from a website that offered an AI-based virtual assistant to help. Four in five (80%) respondents said they would message from their phone while in a store if in-store associates were busy or unavailable.
When online shopping, consumers report they would trust a virtual assistant to help with the following common e-commerce activities: Give updates on shipping and delivery — 87%; Answer frequently asked questions — 85%; Take down name and shipping address — 80%.
Finally, the survey findings also noted the percentage of respondents interested in the following virtual experiences this holiday season:
• Virtual showrooms — 45%
• Viewing products in augmented/virtual reality — 44%
• Shopping while watching a livestream — 34%
A Minute on the Internet in 2021
https://www.statista.com/chart/25443/estimated-amount-of-data-created-on-the-internet-in-one-minute/
Here is the estimated amount of data created on the internet in one minute as reported by Statista.
In one minute 28,000 new subscribers are watching Netflix, nearly 700,000 stories are shared on Instagram, over 9000 connections are made on Linkedin, 69 million messages are sent on What’s App, 5000 new downloads of TikTok, $1.6 million is spent shopping online, nearly 200 million emails are sent, and 500 hours of content are uploaded on YouTube.
Consumer Spending Drives U.S. GDP Growth in Q2 2021
https://www.statista.com/chart/18550/gdp-components/
According to Statista, the U.S. GDP grew at an annual rate of 6.5 percent in the second quarter of 2021, according to the first preliminary estimate released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) on Thursday. Once again, personal consumption expenditure was the main driver behind the upswing, as private domestic investment and the trade deficit pulled in the other direction.
Personal consumption, by far the largest component of the GDP, increased by 11.8 percent compared to the preceding quarter at an annualized rate, thanks to a steep increase in spending on services.
Again this reinforces the importance of consumers in driving the economy’s growth.
Stores may soon use one-third of their space for e-commerce fulfillment: report
https://www.retaildive.com/news/stores-may-soon-use-one-third-of-their-space-for-e-commerce-fulfillment-re/603977/
From Retail Dive, here are some trends on what will happen to online versus instore sales in our near future.
The latest survey indicates that the share of in-store sales will decline to 62.4% by 2025, down from about 70% this year and from 87% in 2015.
The shift won't likely be smooth, or cheap. Brick and mortar, as it has throughout history, remains responsible for the vast majority of commerce, especially in the U.S.
Online retail sales are considerably lower in the U.S., where even swiftly rising e-commerce is set to reach 23.6% of retail sales by 2025. Store fulfillment services are on pace to reach $140.96 billion by 2024, per that report.
A quote that I liked from the article: “The store of the future must become a physical portal into brand and product experiences — becoming places where consumers can be inspired, learn, co-work, socialise, and experiment with new products, while using digital touchpoints, such as mobile phones and social media, and other technology advancements to drive in-store traffic and enable physical stores to operate as part of a broader, interconnected ecosystem. This will mean, among other things, that the store network will become an increasingly vital part of last-mile fulfilment."
Vaccines hoping to protect against long term effects! LPRC IMPACT Content better than Ever! In this week’s episode, our co-hosts discuss these topics and more, including a change in masking policies, differences between Covid vaccine and other vaccines, Benefit Denial Technologies expand, and holiday shopping is shifting more and more online. Listen in to stay updated on hot topics in the industry and more!
