Title: Show Your Card
1Show Your Card SaveHoliday Shopping Report
- Analysis and Report Prepared by
- Brett Waters
- ACS Marketing Research
- November 2008
2Actionable Insights
Insight
The tough economic climate will have a negative
impact on holiday shopping, with most Members
spending less this year than they did last year.
Recommendation
Members will be looking for deals and savings
that will stretch the value of the dollar and get
them more for less. AAA should actively promote
online SYCS partners that sell electronics,
books and clothing as these are the top items
Members shop for online.
Members want convenience and flexibility when
shopping online.
3Key Findings
Holiday Shopping By the numbers
- 62 of Members say they expect to spend less this
year on holiday gifts compared to what they spent
last year. - 59 of Members say they are most likely to use a
credit card to pay for holiday purchases while
33 will use a debit card / check. - Interestingly, younger Members (Gen Y Gen X)
are more likely to use a debit card / check to
pay for their holiday purchases. - 54 do not expect to shop and buy more online
this year than they did last year. - Younger Members (Gen Y Gen X) expect to shop
and buy more online this year compared to older
Members. - 53 of Members say they have already begun their
holiday shopping. - 20 will begin their holiday shopping around
Thanksgiving. - 40 of Members expect to do up to one-quarter of
their holiday shopping online. - Members who shop online say they prefer the
convenience / avoidance of crowds and the
flexibility of 24/7 shopping. - Members are most likely to purchase Books,
clothing, and Electronics online. - 20 of Members will not do any of their holiday
shopping online. - These Members prefer to see the items they are
purchasing before buying. They also have
concerns about internet privacy / security.
4Holiday Shopping
Compared to the amount of money you spent last
year on all holiday gifts you purchased, this
year do you expect to spend
- Compared to last year, six in ten Members (62)
say they expect to spend less this year on
holiday gifts while one-third (35) expect to
spend about the same as last year. - Three percent of Members expect to spend more
this year on holiday gifts than they did last
year.
Less than last year
About the same as last year
More than last year
Base All Respondents N 540
5Holiday Shopping
When do you expect to begin your holiday shopping?
- Over half of Members (53) say they have already
begun their holiday shopping while two in ten
(20) will begin their holiday shopping around
Thanksgiving. - Another two in ten (18) say they will begin
their holiday shopping the first 2 weeks of
December and only one in ten (9) will wait until
the last 2 weeks of December to begin their
holiday shopping.
Already started
Around Thanksgiving
First 2 weeks of December
Last 2 weeks of December
Base All Respondents N 536
6Holiday Shopping
I expect to shop and buy more online this year
than last year.
- Most Members (54) do not expect to shop and buy
more online this year than they did last year
(41 Disagree and 13 Strongly Disagree). - Younger Members expect to shop and buy more
online this year (55) compared to older Members
(51 for Boomers and 37 for Matures).
Strongly Agree
Agree
Disagree
Strongly Disagree
Base All Respondents N 539
7Holiday Shopping
- Two in ten Members (19) say they do not plan on
doing any of their holiday shopping online. - The main reasons for not shopping online are Like
to see the product before buying (68), Concern
about internet security (41) Dont want to pay
for shipping (35) and Like the experience of
shopping in person (35). - Among members who plan to do at least some
holiday shopping online, nearly half (49) plan
to do up to a quarter of their holiday shopping
online (24 plan to do 1 to 10 online and 25
plan to do 11 to 25 online).
What percentage of your holiday shopping do you
plan to do online this year?
Why are you not going to do any holiday shopping
online?
8Holiday Shopping
- The top reasons Members like online shopping are
Convenience Avoid crowds (72), Flexibility of
24/7 shopping (70) and Finding the lowest price
(49). - Members are most likely to purchase Books (59),
clothing (49) and Electronics (47) online.
What are the main reasons you like to shop online?
What items are you likely to buy online?
9Holiday Spending
- Overall, six in ten Members (59) indicate they
are most likely to use a credit card to pay for
purchases made this holiday season, followed by
one-third (33) who will use a debit card /
check. One in ten (8) will use cash. - Younger Members are significantly more likely to
pay for holiday purchases with a debit card /
check compared to older Members.
In general, what form of payment would you be
most likely to use to make your purchases this
holiday season?
Credit Card
Debit Card / Check
Cash
Base All Respondents N 541
10Demographics
Gender
Age
Base All Respondents N 525 Median Age 57.0
years old
Base All Respondents N 540
11Demographics
State of Residence
Employment Status
Base All Respondents N 537
Base All Respondents N 537
12Methodology
- On November 10, 2008, 9,000 randomly selected AAA
members were sent an email and invited to
participate in an online survey. The email
contained a link to a website where members could
anonymously complete the survey. - The survey fielded for 4 days (November 10 13,
2008) and a total of 543 members completed the
survey. Based upon the 9,000 members invited to
participate, the survey has an approximate
response rate of 6.0. (Note It is difficult to
determine the exact response rate of online
surveys, as we do not know how many invalid email
addresses we had and the number of emails that
were undeliverable.) - The survey results have an overall error rate of
4.2 percentage points. That means there is a 95
chance that the results found in this study are
within plus or minus 4.2 points of the results
that would have been found if all Auto Club South
households had been interviewed. The actual
statistical error depends on the number of
respondents to each question and on the observed
proportions.