Sales Strategy

Statista: Pandemic Accelerates Holiday Shopping Channel Shift December 23, 2020 (0 comments)

London, UK—This chart from Statista.com shows how, in just five short years, Americans’ holiday shopping spending by channel has sharply diverged. As the coronavirus continues to spread, millions of Americans are trying to skip the crowds this year and instead shop for holiday in the safety of their homes—as evidenced by the massive delivery delays and backlog of packages in post offices nationwide.

According to Deloitte’s annual Holiday Retail Survey taken earlier this fall, the pandemic will likely accelerate a broader trend towards online shopping during the holiday season, as consumers expect to spend only 28% of their holiday budget in brick-and-mortar stores this year. That’s down from spending 36% of it in-store last year and almost half (46%) of it in-store in 2015. Meanwhile, the share of holiday budgets being spent online has risen to 64%. Other channels (e.g. catalog) climbed slightly this year as well, to 8% of shoppers’ total budget. (The chart did not break out whether catalog purchases were made on the retailer’s website or if orders were placed by phone or mail.)

The upshot for jewelers? If you haven’t brought your e-commerce capabilities up to speed, make 2021 the time to get serious about it. Start by logging onto JewelryEcomm.com for tips and education.