This Year'S Holiday Season, Online Shopping Will Surpass The Physical Store For The First Time.

A research conducted by advertising technology firm OpenX and market research firm The Harris Poll shows that the first time this year's holiday shopping season in the United States will be the first time online shopping exceeds physical store shopping, driven by the millennial generation and mobile shopping.

OpenX and The Harris Poll surveyed 2000 American consumers aged 18 and over in August 2019. Most shoppers surveyed said that during the holiday season in 2019, they would spend more on digital channels than in physical stores.

One of the reasons behind this phenomenon is the growth of mobile shopping. It is estimated that 1 dollars in every 5 dollars will be completed through mobile shopping channels during this holiday season. The millennials have been particularly enthusiastic about mobile shopping: 69% of the millennials said they would use their mobile phones for holiday shopping, a higher proportion than desktop computers or laptops.

And 43% of shoppers believe that "Cyber Monday (online shopping Monday)" is the most cost-effective day of the year. Interestingly, among all the surveyed people, the highest income group (above $100 thousand a year) was found to be the least likely to shop. In addition, 50% of the baby boomers said they plan to distribute online shopping and physical store shopping equally.

The millennial generation will play an important role in promoting this year's holiday spending. Their planned consumption is 15% more than that of ordinary consumers, which is 25% more than that of the baby boomers (1946-1964 born in the United States after World War II). In fact, they are more likely to spend more than 50% last year in the holiday season. 46% of the millennials said they would shop during the holiday season, compared with 30% in the United States.

On the whole, consumers plan to spend an average of 892 dollars during the holiday in 2019, which seems to indicate that consumer confidence has been strongly boosted. Although respondents were neutral in the question of whether the economy is better than last year, 70% of respondents said they believe the situation will improve next year.

OpenX and The Harris Poll's advice to retailers in the report is very direct: don't just focus on TV ads, think more about where and when consumers will go shopping.

68% of respondents said they had thought of buying gifts because they saw advertisements, and 43% said they also had shopping behavior for the same reason. The power of advertising seemed to be as strong as before.

However, with the growing popularity of streaming media services, TV advertising may no longer be the best way to reach consumers. 42% of consumers say they do not have cable TV, or they will consider abandoning cable television next year.

In addition, more and more consumers want to be able to shop according to their own way, whenever and wherever they want, whenever they want to shop, they will act at any time. This trend is already very obvious. 69% of respondents admit that they will shop during work hours, while 13% claim that most of their online shopping takes place after 11 p.m.

OpenX, chief brand officer Dallas Lawrence, explained in a press release: "all signs indicate that holiday season will be a good consumer environment for retailers who are willing to accept significant changes in the time, place and mode of purchase. With the right people oriented marketing strategy, the right time to get the right consumers at the right time, whether in the store or online, is more likely to boost sales than ever before.

If retailers want to take actions in line with the above recommendations and reverse their holiday strategy, they must act quickly. According to OpenX data, 50% of consumers began purchasing for the upcoming holiday season in September.