A growing number of consumers will split their shopping between stores and online this holiday season — but for the latter platform, there’s a huge hiccup.
One in six customers (17 percent) surveyed by retail research firm The NPD Group Inc. reported having had a delivery package stolen.
And what does that mean for the upcoming holiday rush?
Not much, according to NPD.
“While stolen packages are certainly a frustration, they may not have a large impact deterring typical delivery of online purchases,” said Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry adviser.
The research firm’s Holiday Purchase Intentions Survey found that more than three-quarters (77 percent) of consumers plan to do at least some of their holiday shopping online and that the majority of those shoppers will look beyond past experiences to allow their orders to be left outside their homes.
That information might be good news for retailers like Walmart and Target that have recently moved aggressively to revamp their omnichannel strategies and place more resources behind digital growth.
While more than two-thirds (70 percent) of consumers plan to shop at online-only retailers over the holidays, about 42 percent will shop offline at mass-merchants and discount stores, 24 percent at national chains, and 23 percent at department stores. Overall, “blended shopping” will reign supreme during the season, with 6 out of 10 consumers plan to shop both online and in brick-and-mortar stores, an increase of 3 percentage points since 2017.
NPD — which in September circulated an online survey to among more than 3,600 participants — found that online shoppers anticipate spending an average of $748 this holiday season, roughly 50 percent more than the $492 their brick-and-mortar-only counterparts are planning to spend.
“While their sales are growing, retailers selling primarily online shouldn’t rest on their past success,” Cohen said. “They have to continue to create ways to close the deal more effectively and reduce the number digital shopping carts abandoned before the final sale is completed.”
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