Brick-and-Mortar Still Rules Holiday Shopping, Study Finds

By Lindsey Rupp December 18, 2014

While 93 percent of consumers plan to do some online shopping this holiday season, 54 percent will primarily purchase gifts from stores, according to the Atlanta-based firm, which worked with IDG Research Services on the survey. Photographer: Sam Hodgson/Bloomberg

Shopping malls may live in fear of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN:US), but the majority of U.S. consumers are still buying most holiday gifts at brick-and-mortar stores, according to Manhattan Associates (MANH:US) Inc.

While 93 percent of consumers plan to do some online shopping this holiday season, 54 percent will primarily purchase gifts from stores, according to the Atlanta-based firm, which worked with IDG Research Services on the survey. And more than three-quarters of online shoppers will take advantage of pickup-in-store options, meaning they’ll still be relying on physical retailers.

“Clearly retail is going digital, but the role of the store is still very pertinent,” said Scott Fenwick, senior director at Manhattan Associates, which helps companies manage their supply chains. “It’s the retailers that can blend the brick-and-mortar and online experiences for their customers who are going to win.”

While foot traffic during the post-Thanksgiving weekend was disappointing, the retail industry is generally improving. Same-store sales topped estimates in November, according to Retail Metrics Inc., helped by lower gas prices and a better job market. Holiday sales are projected to rise 4.1 percent in November and December, the most since 2011, according to the National Retail Federation.

Many shoppers are ordering goods on the Web and then picking them up in stores, melding the worlds of online and offline commerce. Seventy-seven percent of Internet consumers will pick this option, Manhattan Associates found. Seventy-eight percent of online shoppers prefer to return items to nearby stores, which could drive further traffic to brick-and-mortar chains, according to the survey. Almost 90 percent of Web customers surveyed expect their online purchases to arrive in two to seven days without an extra charge.

The survey, which hasn’t been conducted before, queried 2,000 men and women across the U.S. with an average age of 41. Fifty-seven percent of respondents were employed adults.