Consumers Ignore Social Media for Finding Holiday Deals

SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Print and email still beats Twitter and Facebook for consumers seeking great holiday deals, according to the latest JustAsk! survey from audience research and measurement company Crowd Science. The study measured the Shopitudes of consumers during the 2011 holiday season between the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

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Holiday Shopitudes. The holidays are NOT a favorite time to venture into the stores for almost one-half of study participants: 47% disagreed with the statement "The holidays are my favorite time to shop in person", while only 15% agreed. The negative sentiment was more pronounced as time progressed, with disagreement climbing from 45% before Thanksgiving to 49% as the holidays approached.

Almost one-quarter preferred conducting all of their holiday shopping online. But despite the relative ubiquity in ecommerce, one-in-five worry about security when buying online. The concern over online safety was more pronounced among lighter Internet users (less than 24 hours per week) versus their more experienced counterparts. Those aged 24 years or younger were less inclined to prefer online shopping for the holidays, as compared with older shoppers.

Whether they shop in person or online, 17% of respondents admitted to doing nearly all of their holiday shopping at the last minute. Among those who denied being last-minute shoppers, women were more prominent, at 51% versus 38% of men.

Where The Deal Hunters … Hunt. When searching for the best holiday deals, 25% of those surveyed chose "visiting companies' websites" as their favorite method, followed by print/hardcopy at 15%. Email newsletters & notifications (13%) and talking with friends and family (9%) each beat out social media channels like Facebook (3%) and Twitter (1%). One-quarter had no preferred method for finding deals.

Holiday Spending Trends. 4-in-10 anticipated spending about the same amount during the holidays as they had the year before. Those who indicated they would spend less traced more to lower income households. More interestingly, as the holiday season progressed, the study found a five-point increase in those anticipating spending more. The week of Thanksgiving, 17% said they would spend more, rising to 22% as the Christmas holiday drew closer.

"Our Shopitudes study indicates social media like Facebook and Twitter have a ways to go when it comes to influencing holiday shoppers," says Crowd Science VP of Research Sandra Marshall. "Another fascinating finding is the significant change that can occur in consumer shopping behaviors and sentiment over time. As the holidays approach, we saw a shift in consumers' spending plans, away from sticking to last year's holiday shopping budget, and more toward increased holiday spending." 

The study was performed in two waves over the extended holiday season from November 16^th through December 29^th, 2011. The research was conducted across the Crowd Science network with a sample of 5,301 respondents.

About Crowd Science Crowd Science is innovating audience targeting and segmentation with a powerful combination of demographic & psychographic insights and best-in-class technology to improve display advertising precision and increase revenue. The world's largest online publishers use Crowd Science including Federated Media, Scripps, NHL, Meredith and Everyday Health.  

JustAsk! is an opinion research initiative by Crowd Science delivering timely, topical insights about consumer attitudes and opinions. JustAsk! is ongoing, conducted via survey technology and uses random sampling to collect the opinions of visitors across a network of 10,000 websites.

For more information, or to request a copy of the research, please contact [email protected].

SOURCE Crowd Science