Gift Ideas Survey: Last Minute Shoppers More Likely to Just Browse Stores

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Posted Dec 03, 2012
Anne Pilon

Holiday shopping season is in full swing, so many consumers are on the hunt for gift ideas. From advertising to simply browsing stores, there are so many different ways for shoppers to find gift ideas for friends and family. But how many have specific items in mind before they head out shopping? And how do most people decide what types of gifts to buy?

gifts

Gift Shopping

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, 30% of respondents said they plan to buy gifts for more than five people this holiday season. 16% said they plan to buy gifts for four or five people. 24% said they are buying gifts for two or three people. 6% said they are buying gifts for just one person this year. 14% said they are not buying any holiday gifts this year. And 11% said they are still unsure.Just 10% of gift shoppers said they are completely done with their gift shopping for the year. 22% said they are mostly done shopping. 15% said they are about halfway done with their gift shopping. 23% said they have done very little shopping so far. And 29% said they have not started their holiday gift shopping yet.

Gift Ideas

53% of consumers said that they get gift ideas directly from their person they are buying the gift for. 31% said they get ideas from another friend or family member. 34% said they get ideas in stores or catalogs. 32% said they get gift ideas by browsing online stores. 27% said they perform online searches for gift ideas. 11% find gift ideas from official gift guides. 10% get ideas from social media. And 17% said they get gift ideas from other sources, such as advertising.

Store Browsing

14% of respondents said that they always have a specific idea in mind before they go shopping for a gift, whether it be online or in stores. 42% said that they have a specific item in mind most of the time. 28% said they do about half the time. 8% said they rarely have a specific item in mind when they go out shopping. And another 8% said that they never do, and they always just browse stores to find gifts rather than researching beforehand. 15% of those who have not yet started their gift shopping this year said they just browse stores to find gift ideas most of the time, and 13% said they always just browse stores to find gift ideas. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.Photo Credit: Wrapped Gifts Retirement Party from FlickrWhat do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on December 1 via AYTM’s online survey panel.

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