Survey: Election outcome unlikely to affect holiday spending

Americans will open their purses for holiday shopping regardless of whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins the election.



A survey of American voters by RetailNext found the vast majority will not let the outcome of election 2016 affect their planned spending this coming holiday season.



The survey, conducted online by Harris Poll, found that 90% of Amercans plan to buy gifts for this upcoming holiday season. Among those who plan to buy gifts, 70% say that if Trump is elected it will not affect their spending, while 68% feel the same if Clinton is elected.



“There will be slight degrees of variability in store visits and retail performance early in November due to the election," said Shelley E. Kohan, VP of retail consulting at RetailNext, "but any residual angst from Election 2016 will likely be well over by Thanksgiving. As this holiday season has two additional shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, an overlapping of the beginning of Hanukkah with Christmas Eve, and a bevy of generally positive economic indicators, the retail industry should close the year relatively strong.”



In other study findings:

• 
  Among those planning to buy gifts this holiday season, more shoppers plan to buy gifts online (53%) than in-store (45%).


• 
  Forty-two percent of Americans say Black Friday is the major holiday shopping day when they feel they can get the best deal, whereas 29% think Cyber Monday is when they can get the best deal.

"Shoppers should look for stores to emphasize initiatives around the shopping experience, easing the pain points experienced in shopping journeys," added Kohan. "In addition to ensuring product availability, price matching and pricing transparency has risen to the forefront, along with additional training to empower sales associates to close the knowledge gap that exists when shoppers show up at the store knowing more about the brand and its products and services than associates do."