Large online marketplaces are popular holiday shopping option
The launch of Amazon’s new low-price storefront comes as holiday shoppers are flocking to online marketplaces.
The vast majority (82%) of shoppers plan to purchase gifts on large online marketplaces this year, with Amazon (94%) and Walmart (63%) topping the list, according to Omnisend’s Insights study. The report noted that the launch of Amazon Haul, which is aimed at competing on price with Chinese marketplaces such as Temu and Shein will only increase Amazon's popularity this holiday season.
In related findings, 23% of shoppers plan to shop on Temu, and 10% plan to shop on Shein.
Retail shops are still very much in the mix as Americans plan to buy gifts in brick-and-mortar stores including large retail stores (59%), discount stores (42%), small business stores (22%) and specialty or boutique stores (10%).
Almost half of respondents (45%) admit to self-gifting during the holiday season, most buying items they'd buy anyway to take advantage of sales (67%) and 32% reward themselves with spontaneous treats. A quarter (25%) find gifts they're getting for someone else would be a good gift for themselves too, so they buy a second one.
Small Business Saturday
Twenty-nine percent of Americans plan to participate in Small Business Saturday this year, with 71% planning to visit local small business stores, 18% expecting to shop on e-commerce sites of small businesses and 10% shopping on Etsy and other similar ecommerce marketplaces for small businesses.
As to the biggest reasons for participating in Small Business Saturday, 62% say it makes them feel good to support small businesses and 17% want to avoid crowds and major retailers.
"Small businesses in particular face ongoing challenges to stand out during the holiday shopping season, especially when Black Friday and Cyber Monday are no longer day-long events but often go on for a week," says Greg Zakowicz, senior ecommerce expert, Omnisend. "Add in more competition following the recent launch of Amazon Haul coupled with limited time and staff – which is always a struggle for small businesses – implementing email automation can be extremely impactful."
Last year, automated messages generated 41% of email marketing sales and only 2% of sends.
Methodology
The survey was commissioned by Omnisend and conducted by Cint in November 2024. A total of 1,032 respondents were surveyed across the U.S. Quotas were placed on age, gender, and place of residence to achieve a nationally representative sample among users. The margin of error is +/-3 percent.
