Pitney Bowes Survey Finds That 51% of U.S. Consumers Are Considering Delaying Holiday Purchases Until Early 2022
December 22 2021 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
In the face of supply chain disruption, U.S.
consumers are hopeful for discounts and increased inventory
following the holidays
Pitney Bowes, a global shipping and mailing company that
provides technology, logistics, and financial services, today
released new findings from its BOXpoll® consumer surveys. Recent
surveys measured consumers’ awareness of inventory delays during
peak season, as well as their outlook and shopping plans moving
into 2022.
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Supply chain disruption is impacting
consumers' plans - BOXpoll (Graphic: Business Wire)
“We’re seeing that shoppers are paying close attention to
headlines about inventory challenges and have tempered their
expectations accordingly. Our BOXpoll survey results find that half
of consumers (51%) are considering waiting until January or
February to make some of their purchases, signaling that the
holiday shopping season could last well into early 2022," said
Vijay Ramachandran, VP Market Strategy for Global Ecommerce at
Pitney Bowes.
Additional key trends uncovered by the survey include:
- Among all consumers, 51% are considering waiting until January
or February to make purchases they originally planned for the
holidays.
- When looking at younger generations the percentage grows, with
about two-thirds of both Gen Zers and Millennials holding out for
2022 sales.
- Two-thirds (68%) of consumers expect to find a lot of items out
of stock this holiday, but only a quarter (26%) hold retailers
responsible for delays and shortages.
- Almost half (45%) of consumers say they didn’t see the deals
they expected early in the holiday season, and 43% said they were
postponing purchases ahead of the holiday to see the best
deals.
- Two-thirds (69%) of consumers are expecting supply chain issues
to continue into early next year, and 62% expect them to continue
throughout 2022.
Pitney Bowes also asked survey respondents which items they
would consider waiting to purchase until early 2022, rather than
purchasing during the holidays. The most popular product category
is electronics, with thirty percent of all consumers holding out on
electronics purchases, likely due to current inventory shortages,
compounded by chip shortages and the promise of discounts on
high-value products after the holidays. Apparel comes in at a close
second, with one in five (21%) of all consumers, one-third (31%) of
Gen Zers, and one-quarter (25%) of Millennials waiting until the
new year to make their purchases.
“Beyond waiting for specific product categories, we anticipate
consumer plans for early 2022 purchases to be driven heavily by
redeeming of gift cards, as uncovered by our recent survey data.
This will likely extend the holiday season even longer for
retailers,” said Ramachandran.
Given that half of U.S. consumers still plan to purchase holiday
gifts during traditional peak season timing this year, Pitney Bowes
also surveyed consumer expectations around delivery timing,
specifically looking at the importance of Estimated Delivery Dates
(EDDs) when purchasing holiday gifts.
- Three-quarters (76%) of shoppers say they will contact customer
care if their online order doesn’t arrive by the date promised, but
that percentage is cut in half if a retailer updates an estimated
delivery date in tracking messages.
- In a situation where a retailer provides an updated delivery
date, more than half of Millennials say they’ll recommend that
retailer to friends & family.
Methodology
The BOXpoll® consumer survey 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 www.pitneybowes.com/boxpoll for the
latest BOXpoll findings.
About Pitney Bowes
Pitney Bowes (NYSE:PBI) is a global shipping and mailing company
that provides technology, logistics, and financial services to more
than 90 percent of the Fortune 500. Small business, retail,
enterprise, and government clients around the world rely on Pitney
Bowes to remove the complexity of sending mail and parcels. 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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