With the holiday season now in full swing, many consumers are preparing to purchase gifts for friends and family. However, the holiday season doesn’t dominate year-round gift-giving, especially among younger audiences.
While 84% of respondents over age 45 purchase gifts for the holiday season, only 67% of Millennial respondents do so, according to research from Loop Commerce. In fact, 60% of Millennials purchased gifts throughout the year “just because,” indicating that holidays may mean less to these consumers.
Among all shoppers, birthdays (84%) reign supreme as the top occasion to purchase gifts, with the December holidays (77%) coming right behind. Almost two-thirds of consumers will buy gifts on other major holidays, such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.
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Online Shopping Still Brings Concerns To Consumers
The survey reveals that more than half of these consumers make at least 25% of their gift purchases online, regardless of time of the year. While online gift shopping is become more of a common occurrence among all ages, consumers still hesitate in making purchases.
“There is no question retailers are leaving money on the table by not making it easier for consumers to purchase gifts online,” said Roy Erez, Co-Founder and CEO of Loop. “The path to conversion of shoppers buying for others is very different than the path of shoppers buying for themselves.”
Loop Commerce conducted the survey in August 2015, asking more than 1,000 consumers about their gifting habits throughout the year. These shoppers indicate that there are numerous reasons they don’t have faith when making online purchases. For example, more than 60% of e-gifts — including apparel, shoes and jewelry — are considered “hard to gift” items because of issues around the sizing, fit and color preferences of the recipients.
As many as 25% of respondents say they worry about buying the wrong size of clothing, while another 24% worry about the hassle of returns. Additionally, 18% of consumers say they are concerned about getting the gift to the recipient on time. Other concerns regarding online purchases include getting the wrong color, having the price tag showing, or not having the recipient’s mailing address.
