Rakuten Just Dropped a 2019 Holiday Shopping Infographic All Merchants Need to See

Rakuten is one of the more noteworthy global brands out there, period, and as a leader in the affiliate marketing network space when they drop insights, it’s almost certainly worth taking note. Especially if you have skin in the game in the affiliate sales world.

Check out the infographic they just released, which features some really interesting holiday shopping data for 2019 that should prove beneficial to almost any brand.

The first very interesting bit is the “Holiday Shopper Timeline”, which falls in the following order:

1. 1. Early Birds (19%) – These are the crazy folks who still derive pleasure from keeping  it old-school and getting the majority of their shopping done as early as JULY. They’re hiding presents in the Summer that won’t be opened until December. Yes, 5 months in advance. 41% of this sub-section utilized Prime Day as an opportunity to save money on holiday gifts.
   2. Winter Shoppers (29%) – This is going to comprise the largest number of shoppers. These folks focus their shopping on the months of November and December. While they don’t necessarily get their shopping done as quickly as the Early Birds, they are not procrastinators. 
   3. Bargain Hunters (17%) – A lower percentage of people fall under this category, but still a substantial sub-set of people here who tailor their shopping around sales days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 66% of “Bargain Hunters” utilize Black Friday as their day to save on holiday gifts.
   4. Sporadic Shoppers (22%) – This group, as you can tell by the name, is all over the place. They make holiday purchases throughout the entire shopping season, without taking into account any discounts, coupons, or big sales. 36% of these shoppers state they don’t even look at discounts or sales as reasons to shop. I guess I have no choice but to respect it.
   5. Last-Minute Shoppers (13%) – These are the straight up hooligans, myself included. who wait until the weeks (sometimes days) before Christmas to make our holiday purchases. 43% of these shoppers aren’t guided by discounts or sales, which of course makes sense due to the fact that they probably missed all those by procrastinating.

Other key insights included in the report note that 62% of Gen Z and Millennials between 18-34 years old are more apt to spend their money online than in-store. Also, coming as no real surprise, 79% of Gen Z and Millennials use social media platforms such as Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Snapchat to purchase gifts. 45% of these shoppers use social to browse and purchase holiday gifts.

While you might think Gen X (ages 35-54) would be less inclined to shop online than Gen Z and Millennials, they’re pretty much right there neck-and-neck. 60% of Gen X also shops online, and 40% prefer to do their shopping in the store. Baby Boomers, on the other hand, do shop quite a bit more at physical stores than the other aforementioned groups. They come in at 53% preferring to shop somewhere where they can see the product in person.

The dwindling “influence” of influencers during the holidays was really quite interesting:

• 64% surveyed consumers say they go to their friends and family members for gift inspiration
• 83% of U.S. men and 89% of U.S. women have been inspired to purchase because of what they saw from an influencer during the regular shopping season
• However, during the holidays, only 16% of surveyed consumers use bloggers and influencers for gift ideas

There’s a bit more info on the value of advertising, deals and savings and how they drive sales, as well as economic-cautious consumers. I encourage you to check them all out. Happy holidays to all and to all a good Cyber Monday/Black Friday!