JLL: These store types, retailers are tops with holiday shoppers ...
More holiday shoppers are headed to stores this year than last and department stores will be part of the boom.
More than half (59.5%) of holiday shoppers plan to shop at a store in an enclosed mall this year, up from 40.8% in 2023, according to JLL’s Holiday Shopping Report 2024, and 58.3% plan to shop at a physical store not located in an enclosed mall, up from 48.2% last year.
The top three store types on shoppers’ lists this holiday are department stores, apparel stores and mass merchandisers. For the first time, department stores topped (57.9%) the list of stores that shoppers plan to visit for the holidays — jumping 10 percentage points.
More shoppers also plan to shop at clothing and accessories stores (50.1%), with an 18 percentage-point increase from last year. Mass merchandisers (45.9%) declined in popularity with holiday shoppers by almost 12 percentage points. Electronics stores (37.4%), jewelry stores (33.9%) and locally owned shops (33%) round out the top five.
Holiday shoppers’ top three retailers remain unchanged for the seventh consecutive year, with Amazon (64.7%), Walmart (47.6%0 and Target (41.8%) heading the list. Other retailers enjoying a consecutive year among the top ten include Macy’s (9.7%), Kohl’s (8.6%) and Best Buy (8.4%).
Shoppers in the 30-44 age group (primarily millennials) plan to spend the most this holiday season, budgeting a whopping $1,709 per person. Although they will spend more than average on gifts (13.1% more), food & décor (65.4% more) and experiences (44.3% more) are where they will spend much more than shoppers of other age groups. Shoppers who take kids to see Santa will spend the most overall – $1,677.
Top takeaways
Here are the top takeaways from the JLL report.
•Approximately 71% of shoppers will use two or more channels to shop for the holidays, and most will interact in some way with stores — either by shopping in a mall or an open-air center, picking up curbside or in-store, or a combination thereof. Only 12.8% of holiday shoppers will exclusively order online for home delivery.
•On average, holiday budgets are 31.7% higher than in 2023, totaling $1,261 for gifts, holiday food & décor, and experiences. Gift spending now makes up 46% of total holiday budgets compared to 55% in 2023. The gradual de-emphasis on gift-giving corresponds with two factors: the increasing focus on experience, and the climbing rate of self-gifting during the past few years.
•More than 95% of respondents surveyed plan to participate in at least one holiday-related experience, which is more than last year. Over 76% of shoppers plan to participate in two or more holiday experiences.
•Almost three-quarters of respondents plan to dine out, while more than half will go to the movies. Considerably more consumers than last year will attend a live performance, visit a kids’ attraction and go to an eatertainment venue.
•Roughly 83% of holiday shoppers plan to give themselves a little something this year (compared to 76.2% in 2023). Older shoppers (over 60) are least likely to get anything for themselves, with one-third not planning to self-gift. Nearly 90% of the big spender cohort (30-44) likely to treat themselves to something.
•More shoppers are heading to stores on deal days this year than they did in 2023. High-income shoppers were more likely to head to stores on big deal days like Thanksgiving, Black Friday weekend and Super Saturday. Gen Z were also much more likely (71.2% of respondents) to head to stores on Black Friday.
