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player ready...Digital cash registers will be ringing in Chicago this holiday season. For the first time, local shoppers expect to spend more of their holiday budgets online than in stores, according to a survey by consultancy Deloitte.
Chicago-area shoppers said they expected to spend half of their holiday budgets online and about 43 percent in stores, down from 50 percent last year, according to Deloitte. Nationwide, consumers surveyed said they planned to make 51 percent of purchases online and 42 percent in stores. About 4 percent will be spent through catalog and direct mail orders.
Last year, websites and stores enjoyed a roughly even split, according to Deloitte, which attributed the shift to consumers’ increasing willingness to purchase online rather than browsing before buying in a store.
E-commerce still only accounts for about 9 percent of all U.S. retail sales, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But that balance shifts over the holidays, said Bobby Stephens, a senior manager in Deloitte Digital’s retail practice.
Shoppers are busy, making the convenience factor more compelling, and some stores, competing for sales during retail’s biggest season, make it easier to qualify for free shipping, he said. When asked where they planned to do their holiday shopping, online was the most popular pick, according to separate surveys by the National Retail Federation and Deloitte.
“I always think the holidays amplify what’s true in the overall retail market and can be a good indicator of what might happen in the standard retail season three to five years from now,” Stephens said.
Another possible boost for online sales: As stores have moved Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals online, many customers are opting to follow and skip the crowds at malls and stores, he said.
The Deloitte survey polled 5,038 consumers, including 428 in Chicago, in September and has a margin of error of 1 to 2 percentage points.
The National Retail Federation is predicting overall holiday retail sales to rise between 3.6 and 4 percent this year. A holiday forecast from FTI Consulting was more optimistic, estimating a 4.5 percent increase in discretionary holiday spending, citing consumers’ “decidedly upbeat” economic outlook.
But not all retailers will share in that growth, according the FTI Consulting report, which estimated that at least two-thirds of the spending increases they predicted would happen online, while in-store sales see “uninspired growth.”
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