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[Infographic] New Research Uncovers Consumers’ Shopping Trends This Holiday Season

Buyers
3
minutes
Technical Level
November 18, 2023
3
minutes
October 26, 2022
Technical Level
Frank Maguire
VP, Insight, Strategy & Sustainability
The holiday season is approaching fast and brands and consumers alike are starting to spend. And just like how consumers are looking for gift ideas and deals, advertisers and brands want to make the most effective use of their ad dollars. So we conducted more research into consumers' behaviors and attitudes for this upcoming holiday season and created this infographic to help brands and agencies with their holiday digital ad campaigns.

Keep On Gifting

Human-centric research is part of our DNA at Sharethrough, so we recently surveyed 1,000 American, Canadian and UK consumers to learn more about their gift-giving plans this holiday season. 

While a potential recession is top of mind, the good news is, most consumers said they will spend more or the same amount on gifts as they did last year. Advertisers should take the same approach and not hold back on promoting their products during this heaviest shopping period of the year. 

American consumers are bigger spenders than their Canadian and UK counterparts.

It’s Never Too Early To Start Shopping

Most people anticipate sales, deals, and potentially crowded malls closer to the holidays. In fact, the majority have already started their shopping, with 89% of consumers beginning in October. Advertisers and brands that start their ad campaigns now can take advantage of the early shoppers that try to do it all before peak time.

Consumers started their holiday shopping, whether to avoid busy crowds or get a head start.

Add A Countdown Timer to Holiday TV Ads 

As the weather cools down, people are going to spend more time inside bundling up with their loved ones. This means more time spent watching TV, whether it’s to catch up on all the summer programming or to watch their favorite holiday movies or shows. This gives brands and advertisers a chance to remind viewers about upcoming sales and promotions, like how Amazon was promoting Prime Days a couple of weeks prior to the start. With the presence of a countdown timer, viewers were 43% more likely to remember when the sale starts.

CTV Countdown overlays are now available programmatically on the Sharethrough exchange at no additional cost. Visit this page for more information.

Since TV commercials have an attention problem, a countdown overlay can help boost your performance on CTV.

Blogs and Websites Are Most Influential Resource for Gift Ideas 

Unless you already know exactly what you’re getting for all the people in your life, it can be hard to figure out gift ideas. So where do people go for inspiration? This may come as a surprise, but consumers ranked blogs and websites as the most influential digital resource for their gift ideas. So while social media is still an important part of any brand’s media mix, advertising on the open internet is vital to influencing consumers to consider that brand this holiday season.

And coupled with contextual targeting, blogs and websites become a recipe for success.

A Holiday Message To Remember

If people are browsing blogs and sites for gift ideas, then video ads are a great way to capture their attention. But if they’re mostly reading and have their device on mute, how will they understand what the ad is about? By adding Dynamic Captions to holiday video ads, research confirmed that consumers are 74% more likely to remember the brand’s messaging and 96% more likely to remember the brand’s name.

If consumers are in shopping mode already, they’re more receptive to promotional ads.

The holiday season can be an exciting time for consumers and advertisers alike, as people ramp up for their shopping and brands start their promotions.

Discover how our custom holiday PMPs can help you effectively reach consumers and improve the performance of your digital ad campaigns. 

Infographic: 7 Stats To Guide Your Brand’s Holiday Advertising Campaigns

Check out a detailed view of our research results.

To view the free infographic, fill the form below.

The holiday season is approaching fast and brands and consumers alike are starting to spend. And just like how consumers are looking for gift ideas and deals, advertisers and brands want to make the most effective use of their ad dollars. So we conducted more research into consumers' behaviors and attitudes for this upcoming holiday season and created this infographic to help brands and agencies with their holiday digital ad campaigns.

Keep On Gifting

Human-centric research is part of our DNA at Sharethrough, so we recently surveyed 1,000 American, Canadian and UK consumers to learn more about their gift-giving plans this holiday season. 

While a potential recession is top of mind, the good news is, most consumers said they will spend more or the same amount on gifts as they did last year. Advertisers should take the same approach and not hold back on promoting their products during this heaviest shopping period of the year. 

American consumers are bigger spenders than their Canadian and UK counterparts.

It’s Never Too Early To Start Shopping

Most people anticipate sales, deals, and potentially crowded malls closer to the holidays. In fact, the majority have already started their shopping, with 89% of consumers beginning in October. Advertisers and brands that start their ad campaigns now can take advantage of the early shoppers that try to do it all before peak time.

Consumers started their holiday shopping, whether to avoid busy crowds or get a head start.

Add A Countdown Timer to Holiday TV Ads 

As the weather cools down, people are going to spend more time inside bundling up with their loved ones. This means more time spent watching TV, whether it’s to catch up on all the summer programming or to watch their favorite holiday movies or shows. This gives brands and advertisers a chance to remind viewers about upcoming sales and promotions, like how Amazon was promoting Prime Days a couple of weeks prior to the start. With the presence of a countdown timer, viewers were 43% more likely to remember when the sale starts.

CTV Countdown overlays are now available programmatically on the Sharethrough exchange at no additional cost. Visit this page for more information.

Since TV commercials have an attention problem, a countdown overlay can help boost your performance on CTV.

Blogs and Websites Are Most Influential Resource for Gift Ideas 

Unless you already know exactly what you’re getting for all the people in your life, it can be hard to figure out gift ideas. So where do people go for inspiration? This may come as a surprise, but consumers ranked blogs and websites as the most influential digital resource for their gift ideas. So while social media is still an important part of any brand’s media mix, advertising on the open internet is vital to influencing consumers to consider that brand this holiday season.

And coupled with contextual targeting, blogs and websites become a recipe for success.

A Holiday Message To Remember

If people are browsing blogs and sites for gift ideas, then video ads are a great way to capture their attention. But if they’re mostly reading and have their device on mute, how will they understand what the ad is about? By adding Dynamic Captions to holiday video ads, research confirmed that consumers are 74% more likely to remember the brand’s messaging and 96% more likely to remember the brand’s name.

If consumers are in shopping mode already, they’re more receptive to promotional ads.

The holiday season can be an exciting time for consumers and advertisers alike, as people ramp up for their shopping and brands start their promotions.

Discover how our custom holiday PMPs can help you effectively reach consumers and improve the performance of your digital ad campaigns. 

Infographic: 7 Stats To Guide Your Brand’s Holiday Advertising Campaigns

Check out a detailed view of our research results.

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About Behind Headlines: 180 Seconds in Ad Tech—

Behind Headlines: 180 Seconds in Ad Tech is a short 3-minute podcast exploring the news in the digital advertising industry. Ad tech is a fast-growing industry with many updates happening daily. As it can be hard for most to keep up with the latest news, the Sharethrough team wanted to create an audio series compiling notable mentions each week.

The holiday season is approaching fast and brands and consumers alike are starting to spend. And just like how consumers are looking for gift ideas and deals, advertisers and brands want to make the most effective use of their ad dollars. So we conducted more research into consumers' behaviors and attitudes for this upcoming holiday season and created this infographic to help brands and agencies with their holiday digital ad campaigns.

Keep On Gifting

Human-centric research is part of our DNA at Sharethrough, so we recently surveyed 1,000 American, Canadian and UK consumers to learn more about their gift-giving plans this holiday season. 

While a potential recession is top of mind, the good news is, most consumers said they will spend more or the same amount on gifts as they did last year. Advertisers should take the same approach and not hold back on promoting their products during this heaviest shopping period of the year. 

American consumers are bigger spenders than their Canadian and UK counterparts.

It’s Never Too Early To Start Shopping

Most people anticipate sales, deals, and potentially crowded malls closer to the holidays. In fact, the majority have already started their shopping, with 89% of consumers beginning in October. Advertisers and brands that start their ad campaigns now can take advantage of the early shoppers that try to do it all before peak time.

Consumers started their holiday shopping, whether to avoid busy crowds or get a head start.

Add A Countdown Timer to Holiday TV Ads 

As the weather cools down, people are going to spend more time inside bundling up with their loved ones. This means more time spent watching TV, whether it’s to catch up on all the summer programming or to watch their favorite holiday movies or shows. This gives brands and advertisers a chance to remind viewers about upcoming sales and promotions, like how Amazon was promoting Prime Days a couple of weeks prior to the start. With the presence of a countdown timer, viewers were 43% more likely to remember when the sale starts.

CTV Countdown overlays are now available programmatically on the Sharethrough exchange at no additional cost. Visit this page for more information.

Since TV commercials have an attention problem, a countdown overlay can help boost your performance on CTV.

Blogs and Websites Are Most Influential Resource for Gift Ideas 

Unless you already know exactly what you’re getting for all the people in your life, it can be hard to figure out gift ideas. So where do people go for inspiration? This may come as a surprise, but consumers ranked blogs and websites as the most influential digital resource for their gift ideas. So while social media is still an important part of any brand’s media mix, advertising on the open internet is vital to influencing consumers to consider that brand this holiday season.

And coupled with contextual targeting, blogs and websites become a recipe for success.

A Holiday Message To Remember

If people are browsing blogs and sites for gift ideas, then video ads are a great way to capture their attention. But if they’re mostly reading and have their device on mute, how will they understand what the ad is about? By adding Dynamic Captions to holiday video ads, research confirmed that consumers are 74% more likely to remember the brand’s messaging and 96% more likely to remember the brand’s name.

If consumers are in shopping mode already, they’re more receptive to promotional ads.

The holiday season can be an exciting time for consumers and advertisers alike, as people ramp up for their shopping and brands start their promotions.

Discover how our custom holiday PMPs can help you effectively reach consumers and improve the performance of your digital ad campaigns. 

Infographic: 7 Stats To Guide Your Brand’s Holiday Advertising Campaigns

Check out a detailed view of our research results.

About Calibrate—

Founded in 2015, Calibrate is a yearly conference for new engineering managers hosted by seasoned engineering managers. The experience level of the speakers ranges from newcomers all the way through senior engineering leaders with over twenty years of experience in the field. Each speaker is greatly concerned about the craft of engineering management. Organized and hosted by Sharethrough, it was conducted yearly in September, from 2015-2019 in San Francisco, California.

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Frank Maguire
VP, Insight, Strategy & Sustainability

About the Author

Frank has spent over a decade at Sharethrough conducting research studies to better understand how humans respond to advertising and sharing strategies, insights and best practices that help brands and agencies adapt their unique advertising challenges to ever-evolving media consumption behaviors. He is a digital advertising industry veteran, beginning his career working for clients including Nestle, Pfizer and Wyndham on the agency side and then opening up and growing Sharethrough's East Coast headquarters in NYC.

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