Google Releases Stats on First 'Non-Line' Holiday in History!


This holiday season is historic whether you realize it or not. It's the very first time that holiday shopping is not boxed into two different categories: Offline and Online. That's right because for the first time ever consumers have broken out of the box and are throwing those old fashioned concepts away. Today's consumers are shopping for the best deals while walking through the local mall, smart phone in hand doing mobile searches for anything and everything that catches their eye.

They're going so far as to use that latest app to scan the barcode on the hottest new NorthFace Jacket to initiate a search online checking for the same item at a fraction of the cost, delivered directly to the person they're shopping for - with a bow and card included. We are all guilty of this a little bit and Google just proved it.

Google pared up with Ipsos to do a study on how people are approaching the upcoming holiday season and the stats returned are promising in a lot of areas. The first being that consumers are preparing to spend about $900 on their holiday shopping, which is a number that is up from last year's $854.

As you can see in the image below, the journey the average shopper makes is no longer straight forward and is more of a winding path. Not surprising is that...

80% of shoppers will research online before making a purchase this season, all while switching devices seamlessly as needed.

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According to the research, 51% of shoppers will research online and then visit the store to purchase, while 17% will visit a store first and then purchase online. Another 32% will research online, visit store to view a product, then return online to purchase. Google also directly recommends that you...

Start any and all holiday promotions well before Black Friday hits as 54% of shopper will have already begun their shopping before that date.

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Google then went on to tell us that mobile devices are every savvy shopper's constant companion.

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