Physical Stores Have Winning Position During Holiday Shopping

Digital is certainly the bee’s knees, the rad kid of commerce, the hippest person in the place. But don’t get too carried away — during the 2018 holiday season, most U.S. consumers will still do their shopping inside physical stores.

Drawing on figures from eMarketer, a new report said that “only one in eight Americans will do their holiday shopping online this year. Most still prefer to get up off the couch and go to brick-and-mortar stores.”

Of course, eCommerce will display growing strength this holiday shopping season, according to every reliable estimate. For instance, Adobe has projected that eCommerce in the United States during the holiday period will increase 14.8 percent, reaching $124.1 billion. Cyber Monday will set yet another retail record this year, Adobe predicted, with sales on Nov. 26 to hit $7.7 billion, up 17.6 percent from the same day in 2017.

The growing and developing power of online retail and associated retail technology will also be demonstrated this holiday season. That includes voice-assisted shopping done via smart speakers and similar devices. According to Adobe, “21 percent of consumers [said] they are planning to reorder frequently purchased items and 17 percent [will place] one-time orders for in-store pickup using their voice-activated devices” during this year’s fourth quarter.

But even those Adobe projections recognize the enduring power of physical stores.

“Offline is moving into online, and online is moving into offline,” said Taylor Schreiner, director of Adobe Digital Insights, in an interview with PYMNTS. Whether through buy online, pick up in store programs or other efforts that mix the digital and physical sides of retail, consumers are responding to that combination — and that especially includes millennial shoppers, Schreiner noted.