7 Interesting Observations About Holiday Season 2014 Celebrations!

Holiday Shopping season is already here and it seems like it’s going to be a fantastic one, especially, for the Apple and Frozen brands, and temporary job seekers.

Many things go unnoticed about the end-of-the-year holiday shopping season period. We don’t know how aggressively retailers fight the price wars in the competitive market. For instance, we don’t know how an emerging toy becomes a must-have gift for legions of children all across the USA. But there are some things that we surely know and they are as under:

1. The Holiday Season has Already Begun

Every year the shopping period initiates around September, followed by Halloween in October, due to its increased marketing of the scary costumes and pumpkins. But all this is at one side, and winter holiday shopping is at another. The major focus of the retailers is on the winter holiday shopping season. This is the reason why stores make their shopping seasons bigger every year. Stores like Walmart, Kmart, Target and Toys R Us roll out their different versions of the season’s “Hot Toys” list way before kids make their own wish list for the holidays.

2. Purchase of Gadgets and “Frozen” Merchandize is Required by Law

Well, it only seems that way because of the hot toys list that consists of Frozen merchandize, although, it’s been months since a Disney movie was in the cinemas. If it’s not about the 3 foot tall Elsa doll then the buyers steer towards the techie items like Vtech smartwatch for kids.

As far as the tech items for adults are concerned, they have cooler stuff like the series of new Amazon tablets or Apple’s sexy iPhones.

3. Longer Store Hours And Shorter Checkout Queues

Stores, during holiday season remain open up to straight 88 hours or even longer when Christmas is round the corner. This year Target tends to rebuild its position by launching longer hours including midnight closings and making it a convenient and fashionable place to shop. Walmart surprisingly promises to keep its checkout lines open during its peak shopping hours throughout the holiday season.

4. Best Time to Grab A Seasonal Job

Retailers hired about 325,000 workers for the holiday season back in 2008. The figure is increasing annually, hitting 786,000 a year ago. According to a report by Challenger, Grey & Christmas, researchers say that the seasonal employment brought a significant output to the retail industry in 2013. Toys R Us announced that it is hiring almost 45,000 seasonal employees this year which is double their existing workforce. Similarly UPS plans to hire 95,000 workers for the holiday season. Best time for many jobless people out there to make the most out of this holiday season.

5. People Will Shop Online Earlier to Avoid Late Deliveries

Pitney Bowes, an e-commerce and shipping consulting firm, states in its survey that, people will shop online way before the holidays in order to avoid the shipping problems that they faced last year. The survey says that 49% people want to shop online earlier this year. The reason is pretty obvious that customers don’t want to receive their shipments late. Many customers were disappointed because Amazon, Kohl’s orders were delayed and couldn’t reach the customers before Christmas in 2013.

6. Apple Users Outspend Androiders

According to a new IBM Report, last year average orders placed for the Apple devices were of worth $121.48 as compared to that of Android which was just $89. The data also reveals the fact that while more web surfing is done through smartphones; consumers tend to make online purchases through their tablets more than their smartphones.

7. Influenced by Digital, But Prefer in-person Purchases

Deloitte forecast calls a 4%-4.5% increase in the holiday season shopping. Researchers point out that around 50% of the shoppers are influenced by digital interaction (like browsing online), but only 14% of the purchases are made via e-stores. When it comes to holiday season shopping, consumers still prefer spending limitless times in the stores and shop physically.

Considering all the aforementioned factors about the 2014 holiday shopping season in mind, we hope that you are ready with all the necessary preparations required for this year holidays. So hurry up and hit the stores and grab all that you can for yourself and your loved ones. Wishing you all happiness throughout the holidays!