Consumers not abandoning physical retailers this holiday season

Retailers should expect a happy holiday season this year, at least according to a new report from Morning Consult. And that holds true for physical retailers, too, as the same survey found that many consumers plan to do most of their shopping at brick-and-mortar stores this season.

According to Morning Consult’s 2019 Holiday Shopping Trends study, consumers are expected to increase their holiday spending this year, providing a boost to retailers that rely so heavily on end-of-the-year sales.

Morning Consult said that 70 percent of U.S. consumers plan on spending at least $100 during the upcoming Black Friday weekend. The survey found that 52 percent of respondents say they are likely to shop during Cyber Monday, while 45 percent say they will shop on Black Friday.

And even though online shopping gets most of the press, the Morning Consult survey found that 77 percent of Millennials said they are likely to go to shopping centers to find gifts. According to the survey, younger U.S. consumers are just as likely as older ones to shop in physical stores.

What are these consumers planning to buy? Morning Consult said that 73 percent of respondents planned to buy clothing as a gift this year. A total of 77 percent said they plan on shopping at Walmart while 74 percent said they’ll buy online at Amazon. Those are the top two retail destinations, according to the survey.

The survey’s findings on online shopping were especially interesting. According to Morning Consult, 34 percent of respondents said they will shop more online, while 31 percent said they would do more of their shopping in physical stores. An additional 30 percent said they would do equal amounts of shopping in physical stores and online.

Other popular gift types include gift cards, cited by 69 percent of respondents; food, cited by 60 percent, books, 48 percent; video games, 41 percent; and fashion accessories, 40 percent.

While Walmart and Amazon remained the top two choices for shoppers, 58 percent of survey respondents said they’d shop at Target, 50 percent at Dollar Tree and 44 percent at Bath & Body Works.