Pitney Bowes Survey Forecasts Peak Season Boom in Ecommerce for the Second Consecutive Year
September 21 2021 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
As consumer behaviors continue to shift, 41% of consumers expect
to shop online more this holiday season
Pitney Bowes Inc. (NYSE:PBI), a global technology company that
provides commerce solutions in the areas of ecommerce, shipping,
mailing and financial services today released results from its
latest BOXpoll™ consumer survey, highlighting the significant
impact of the Delta variant on consumer shopping behaviors ahead of
this year’s peak shopping season.
When Pitney Bowes last asked consumers—in May—about changes in
shopping behaviors, health and safety guidance was relaxing and
COVID-19 cases were on a steady decline. Four months later, mask
mandates and public health restrictions are on the rise, as are new
COVID-19 cases resulting from the Delta variant. To determine how
consumers were responding to the changes, Pitney Bowes examined
whether and how much consumers were reverting to being cautious and
wary about shopping amid possible health risks, finding that:
- One in 3 consumers will start shopping more online (19%
increase from May).
- One in 4 consumers will start shopping less in person (16%
increase from May).
- Forty-one percent of consumers expect to be shopping more
online this holiday season versus their current shopping
habits.
Interestingly, consumer sentiment towards the Delta variant is
not consistent across generations. Millennials are the most
cautious, with nearly 1 in 3 saying they would shop less in person
(28%) and nearly half saying they will shop more online (46%) due
to the Delta variant. That is a near 20% increase since May for
both pieces of data, the highest of any age group.
“For the first time last year, online was consumers’ favorite
holiday shopping destination,” said Gregg Zegras, EVP and
President, Global Ecommerce at Pitney Bowes. “As we enter this
year’s peak season amid the surge of the Delta variant, our data
shows that consumers are defaulting back to their new comfort zone.
All of us in this industry should expect a peak not unlike 2020. To
avoid disappointing customers, retailers should schedule promotions
earlier to pull forward demand and lower risk by diversifying their
carrier mix.”
Delta’s Impact on the Workplace
In recent months, the Delta variant has not only significantly
impacted public health mandates and social gatherings, but also the
U.S. workforce. As Delta continues to surge across the country,
major U.S. corporations have delayed return to office plans until
2022, causing employees to continue remote work practices.
As store shopping trips must become more intentional with more
people continuing to work from home, it is expected that retail
brands will experience greater adoption of online shopping.
- One in 3 adults (the largest proportion of employed consumers)
expect to work remotely most often.
- Gen Z, with their track record of being less concerned in
general about the pandemic, expect to work in an office most
often.
- One in 4 Baby Boomers and 1 in 5 GenXers hold a job where
remote work is not possible, which puts a slightly lower ceiling on
how shopping behavior impacts among these generations.
Please visit www.pitneybowes.com/boxpoll for all of the latest
BOXpoll findings, including four new articles covering consumer
shopping behaviors.
- Delta variant
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Methodology
BOXpoll™ by Pitney Bowes is a weekly consumer survey on current
events, culture and ecommerce logistics. Morning Consult conducts
weekly polls on behalf of Pitney Bowes among a national sample of
more than 2,000 online shoppers. The results included in this press
release are extracted from surveys conducted over the past month.
The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to
approximate a target sample of adults based on age, educational
attainment, gender, race, and region. Results from the full survey
have a margin of error of +/- 2 percentage points. Visit
pitneybowes.com/boxpoll for the latest BOXpoll findings.
About Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global technology company providing
commerce solutions that power billions of transactions. Clients
around the world, including 90 percent of the Fortune 500, rely on
the accuracy and precision delivered by Pitney Bowes solutions,
analytics, and APIs in the areas of ecommerce fulfillment, shipping
and returns; cross-border ecommerce; office mailing and shipping;
presort services; and financing. For 100 years Pitney Bowes has
been innovating and delivering technologies that remove the
complexity of getting commerce transactions precisely right. For
additional information visit Pitney Bowes at
www.pitneybowes.com.
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Brett Cody Pitney Bowes (203) 218 1187 brett.cody@pb.com
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