As the pre-Christmas shopping cycle winds down, retailers are girding themselves for Round 2.
That’s the period between Dec. 26 and New Year’s when shoppers are back, returning their presents and using gift cards to buy new ones at post-holiday mark-down prices.
According to the latest Shoppers Trend Report from discount couponing site RetailMeNot, 67 percent of consumers intend to shop end-of-the-year sales and plan to spend an average of $270 during this time.
As noted, the biggest motivators for consumers to shop the post-holiday period are retail discounts and offers, and the gift cards received as a holiday gifts. Specifically, 60 percent are motivated to shop by low prices, while nearly the same percentage (57 percent) would be persuaded to shop by great deals.
Gift cards also encourage Americans to shop end-of-the-year sales, with nearly 38 percent planning to redeem a gift card or certificate they received as a holiday present.
Other motivators include:
*26 percent are ready to shop for themselves after a season of shopping for others;
*25 percent take advantage of a retailer’s coupon;
*21 percent didn’t receive the gift they wanted; and
*19 percent want to redeem a rebate.
Of those who received a gift card during the winter holidays, 28 percent plan to use it sometime in December and 43 percent will wait until January.
Gift cards themselves are the preferred last-minute gift, favored by 67 percent, although 23 percent have re-gifted one to someone else, and 14 percent have let them go unused.
As for returns, 33 percent of consumers typically bring or send back a holiday gift, and most return 20 percent of their gifts on average.
The Shoppers Trend Report is based on a survey of 1,024 nationally representative Americans age 18 and over that was conducted online Dec. 1-4.
