Where Will CSRA Consumers Do Their Holiday Shopping This Year?

Central Savannah River Areas shoppers are expected to spend $1.3 billion this holiday season.  This will be approximately 4% higher than last year. These estimates are based on forecasts by the National Retail Federation and Deloitte.

To claim a fair share of the Christmas cash, local small business owners will need to battle some giant competitors. Advertising on Augusta radio stations may be the perfect weapon to ensure success.

According to information published in the retail trade magazine Chain Store Age, as of right now, here is where consumers are planning to shop...

• Amazon: 38.1%
• Walmart: 36.2%
• Target: 29.6%

Shoppers with holiday budgets of $500 or more are likely to also include Best Buy and Macy's.  Those with a smaller budget could end up at Kohls.

If CSRA retailers want to redirect this flow of holiday dollars away from the national chains and eCommerce sites, then investing in advertising would be necessary.

Recently, Nielsen studied the impact individual elements of an advertising campaign had on sales growth.  Of all of the media components, reach had the most significant effect. 

The local advertising medium with the most reach is radio.

Last week, according to Nielsen, more adult consumers were reached by Augusta radio than were reached by local TV, newspapers, social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, or streaming audio sites like Pandora and Spotify.

Not only does local radio reach the largest number of CSRA consumers, it reaches the vast majority who are planning to shop the box store, national chains, and major eCommerce sites during the holidays.

For instance, each week, Augusta radio reaches 89% of local consumers who shop at Walmart and 91% who shop with Amazon.

In addition to where consumers will shop this holiday season, Chain Store Age also published information that most CSRA small business owners will find useful:

• About one-third of consumers say that they will start their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving this year – with some indicating they’re already done with their holiday shopping.
• A higher number of shoppers plan to start their shopping on Thanksgiving Day this year – 5.1% versus 3.4% in 2018.  
• Fewer shoppers will use their phones for online ordering compared to last year (46.8% vs. 50.3%), But more shoppers indicated they will use their phones for reading product reviews, checking store inventory, and making in-store payments. While men are more likely to use their phones overall, 14.2% of women preferred to use their phone to pay in-store. Among the age demographics, 16.5% of millennial shoppers planned to use their phone to make mobile payments.
• Overall, consumer budgets remained roughly the same compared to last year with 43.3% of consumers indicating that they will spend over $500 on gifts this year – compared to 44.4% in 2018. 
• Seniors over the age of 65 planned to spend the most out of the surveyed demographics with 23% budgeting more than $1,000 on gifts. Gen Zers, on the other hand, budgeted the least with 72.3% indicating they planned to spend less than $500.

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