T’was the night before Christmas and all through the malls, procrastinators were shopping for last-minute hauls.
Indeed, according to a December survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC), one out of five adults — including, it turned out, Bruce Springsteen — planned to shop for gifts or other holiday-related items on the eve of Christmas and the first night of Hanukkah.
“Even with the long holiday season this year, a fifth of adults plan to shop up until Christmas Eve,” said Tom McGee, president of the industry trade group. “With so much last-minute shopping, I expect that many consumers will take advantage of local merchants and omni-channel retailers, either going to stores so they can get the merchandise right away or leveraging click-and-collect.”
Related:Walmart Offering Last-Minute In-Store Pick Up Of Online Orders
Examined by demographic, millennials appear to be the tardiest, with more than a third (34 percent) planning purchases on Christmas Eve. Gen-Xers are not much better, with 21 percent still completing their holiday shopping today.
In contrast, Baby Boomer buying is pretty much all wrapped up, with only 10 percent still on the holiday prowl.
To help accommodate them, some retailers are pushing the store-hours envelope and staying open until just before Santa’s arrival. Target, for one, is keeping its doors open as late as 11 p.m. tonight, and Kmart’s not closing until 10.
Most other chains, including Walmart, Sears and Best Buy, are calling it quits at 6, although the latter opened at 7 a.m. this morning.
Target is taking it one step further by accepting online orders until 6 p.m. tonight that will be available for in-store pick-up right up until closing.
From the staff of TWICE:Happy holidays to all, and to all a good-night…