Just over half (51%) of consumers say they’ll gladly give up personally identifiable information to retailers to obtain personalized offers, according to Accenture’s “Annual Holiday Shopping Survey.” The biggest enticements (named by 72%) are discounts and coupons, while rebates hold the lowest appeal.
The number of those willing to share their data rose markedly from last year’s survey, when only a third were so disposed. That’s surprising considering shoppers’ purse strings appear to be loosening this year. Four out of 10 of the 1,500 consumers polled by the retail consulting company said they would spend more than they did in 2014.
“Fifty-six percent of respondents prefer discounts or deals to be proactively sent to them, with those aged 18 to 35 wanting these discounts to be highly personalized and relevant. Retailers must be able to adapt their approach to address the privacy needs of each individual customer,” said Patricia Walker, Accenture’s retail practice lead for North America.
Cross-channel shopping will continue to be the rule of the day for Christmas 2015. Some two thirds of shoppers said they would engage in showrooming (checking out merch in stores before buying it online) and its mirror-opposite technique, webrooming. Showrooming is especially popular among people aged 18 to 44, while webrooming was equally favored among all age groups.
More than 60% of those surveyed said social media would play a role in their purchase decisions. Real-time trending of popular products is the chief appeal of social media in holiday shopping, and a third of respondents said they felt the ads they saw on social media were more relevant to them.
Mobile will endure as a transactionally challenged channel. According to Accenture, only 2% of consumers plan to do the majority of their shopping on mobile devices, primarily due to fears over privacy and security.
