New York lists services firm Belardi/Ostroy ALC LLC recently announced survey results that focused on the holiday shopping behavior of customers from seven different children’s brands.
The results were based on 15,000 responses and the survey ranged from demographic information to category preferences and shopping behavior. It found that a majority of families plan to spend $126 per child for the holidays.
Nearly half or 45 percent of consumers said they planned to do their shopping online this year. Approximately 30 percent of customers began their holiday shopping in early November, while 20 percent began in late November.
About 10 percent to 15 percent of each brand’s consumers are most likely grandparents or gift givers, as they responded they had no children in the house.
Some other salient points from the survey included:
- 55 percent to 60 percent of respondents’ children or grandchildren typically look through the children’s catalogs they receive. Catalogers should tailor their creative to target these children
- Developmental games, board games and arts and crafts were the top category choices for consumers this holiday season
- Target and Toys “R” Us were the top two retail stores that customers will likely shop at this holiday season. Pottery Barn Kids and Baby Gap/Gap Kids received the second highest group of responses. Wal-Mart and Costco were also top choices
- Between 35 percent to 40 percent of each brands’ customers most often shop for their holiday gifts in retail locations, presenting an opportunity for possible retail growth for many of the brands
- 47 percent of customers visit a company’s Web site only when they need to purchase something. Only 15 percent visit weekly.
- Free shipping and percentage off discounts were the top two motivators for making a purchase with a specific brand. In addition, price, uniqueness of merchandise and the amount of product information available are very important to shoppers.
The holiday shopping survey aimed at identifying best practices for holiday marketing, particularly for catalogers targeting the prenatal/newborn market.
Belardi will be performing a post-holiday benchmark survey to the home furnishings and décor market in January.
