• by Ray Schultz , November 21, 2019

Consumers worldwide are gearing up for the holiday shopping season, but the sales outlook isn’t clear.

Ecommerce is growing -- 40% of consumers in the U.S. and UK expect to do most of their holiday shopping online, according to Shopping Through the Holidays, a study by Toluna. Australian shoppers expect to shop in-store.

But 46% overall say they expect to spend the same amount as last year.

Price will be the main driver of sales this year, although less so in the U.S. than in other countries. In the U.S., 42% say price persuades them to buy one gift over another, versus 54% in the U.K. and 49% in Australia.

In addition, 38% in the U.S. base purchases on sentiment and 20% on convenience. In the U.K., 33% of shoppers are influenced by sentiment and 13% are influenced by convenience.

Of all the consumers surveyed, 76% are deterred from making online purchases by shipping costs.

The study shows that 33% overall get information on deals and sales from email newsletters. But email ranks behind brand websites (50%), online ads (43%), TV commercials (38%) and social media (35%).

Of the U.S. shoppers, 56% have purchased directly through social media, compared to 35% of Australians.

Toluna surveyed 1,000 consumers in the U.S., 1,000 in the U.K., 500 in Australia and 600 in Spain.