retail

With Holiday Spending Up, Walmart, ToysRUs Flex Digital Muscle

by Sarah Mahoney , October 16, 2014

With the National Retail Federation predicting a 5% jump in holiday spending—and the average person in its survey planning to do an unprecedented 44.4% of gift purchasing online this year—both Walmart and ToysRUs are hoping to woo those digital dollars. The NRF says 56% of U.S. consumers plan to shop online, up from 51.5% last year and the most in the survey’s 13-year history.

The NRF predicts that the average person celebrating the winter holidays will spend $804.42, up nearly 5% from last year’s $767.27. The survey, based on 7,500 adults and conducted by Prosper Insights, reports that people plan to spend about $460 on gifts for family, an increase of 6.5% from last year, and $80.00 for friends, up from $75.00. They also intend to spend more on coworkers, babysitters and pets. It expects spending on other categories, including food, décor, and cards, to be flat.

“Retailers have plenty of reasons to be optimistic this holiday season, and one of the most important pieces of evidence is the confidence holiday shoppers are exuding in their plans to spend on gifts for their loved ones,” says NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay in its release. “Consumers will put retailers to the test when it comes to the product mix and value companies can offer today’s shopper who is focused on much more than just price.”

And retailers are ready. In a presentation for investors, Walmart vowed to make this holiday its best ever, promising the biggest ad campaign in its history. And in order to be more flexible across all channels, it says it has created a TV studio just for the season, to be able to quickly crank out specific video messaging about assortment and price, from TV to digital to mobile.

Toys R Us is also already out of the gate, rolling out an expanded digital version of its annual campaign to boost the Marine Toys For Tots Foundation. Shaquille O’Neal (also known as Shaq-A-Claus) is again the spokesperson. And this year is hoping to encourage consumers to take an “un-selfie,” posting photos of themselves donating a toy to their social media feeds. For every photo with a #PlayItForward hashtag, the Wayne, N.J.-based retailer says it will donate an extra toy to the foundation. And for those posted on Dec. 2, or “Giving Tuesday,” they’ll give two toys.

The company is again providing The Great Big Shaq-A-Claus Wish List, the official Toys for Tots wish list. People can buy toys for the cause online and have them shipped directly. Instore kiosks also support the effort.

holiday, research, retail

5 comments about "With Holiday Spending Up, Walmart, ToysRUs Flex Digital Muscle".

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Gian Fulgoni from 4490 Ventures, October 16, 2014 at 8:35 a.m.
44% of holiday purchases will be made online?! That's impossible. It's saying that almost a half of all buying will occur online! If that we're true most retailers would be out of business! The Department of Commerce says online buying in total is only 7% of all sales. And even if you exclude autos, food and beverage the percent is still only 14%!
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Sarah Mahoney from self employed, October 16, 2014 at 9:43 a.m.

Thanks, Gian, for pointing out my error. The story should have clarified (and does now) that those in the NRF's survey of 7,500, anticipate making an average of 44.4% of their gift purchases online. And it varies by age: Those in the 25 to 34 age group plan to buy 52% of their presents online, for example, while among those 65 and older, it's 35.5%.

Gian Fulgoni from 4490 Ventures, October 16, 2014 at 10:14 a.m.

But, Sarah, if the Prosper Insights sample says that 44% of their purchases will be made online and we know that the general US population won't come anywhere close to that percentage, then don't we have to question the validity of the entire study?

Kathy Grannis from NRF, October 16, 2014 at 10:55 a.m.

Hi Gian, Kathy Grannis here from NRF. I don't think it's hard to imagine the average person doing 40% of their shopping online at all. The survey does not indicate purchases specifically either. We ask "What percentage of your holiday shopping do you plan to do online?" You cannot try to connect government data for sale percentages to a survey where we ask about consumer intentions for shopping - that is not apples to apples. The survey is saying that on average, Americans will do 44% of their shopping online. That could be visiting 20 websites, it could also be visiting two websites if they have a smaller shopping list. Please feel free to email me with more questions. Press@nrf.com

Gian Fulgoni from 4490 Ventures, October 16, 2014 at 12:21 p.m.

Hi Kathy: I understand your point but unfortunately Sarah's article specifically says buying not shopping. Specifically: "the average person in its survey planning to do an unprecedented 44.4% of gift purchasing online this year." That's why I made my comments and comparison to the DOC data. You might want to ask Sarah to make a correction to her article and use the term "shopping" and not "purchasing" to clear up the confusion.