Holiday shopping may extend well into the New Year, according to survey findings from Pitney Bowes. In the face of supply chain disruption, US consumers are hopeful for discounts and increased inventory following the holidays, it found.
Delayed gratification isn’t entirely unusual, especially since the prevalence of gift cards that people receive in their Christmas stockings. However, Pitney Bowes found that this year, half of consumers considered waiting to make purchases they had originally planned for the holidays.
Vijay Ramachandran, VP Market Strategy for Global Ecommerce at Pitney Bowes, said, “We’re seeing that shoppers are paying close attention to headlines about inventory challenges and have tempered their expectations accordingly. Our BOXpoll survey results find that half of consumers (51%) are considering waiting until January or February to make some of their purchases, signaling that the holiday shopping season could last well into early 2022.”
Electronics and Apparel were top categories cited by consumers expressing patience.
Additional findings included the following:
- When looking at younger generations the percentage grows, with about two-thirds of both Gen Zers and Millennials holding out for 2022 sales.
- Two-thirds (68%) of consumers expect to find a lot of items out of stock this holiday, but only a quarter (26%) hold retailers responsible for delays and shortages.
- Almost half (45%) of consumers say they didn’t see the deals they expected early in the holiday season, and 43% said they were postponing purchases ahead of the holiday to see the best deals.
- Two-thirds (69%) of consumers are expecting supply chain issues to continue into early next year, and 62% expect them to continue throughout 2022.
Morning Consult conducts weekly polls on behalf of Pitney Bowes among a national sample of more than 2,000 online shoppers, and the findings it cited in Wednesday’s report were extracted from surveys conducted over the past month. You can find the full press release on the Pitney Bowes website.
