The summer’s major retail events, including Amazon’s Prime Day, are on the way, An Adobe Commerce study reveals many consumers, concerned about issues such as inflation, are less willing to spend money on discretionary items during the summer sales as they prioritize purchases of necessity. However, many consumers, especially younger shoppers, are excited about the summer bargains, the study indicated.
The Adobe research revealed that 61% of consumers are looking forward to summer sales including Prime Day. However, that enthusiasm is greater among younger consumers. The most excited for the summer sales events are Gen Zers, with 85% reporting themselves anxiously awaiting the sales. The enthusiasm diminishes with age, as 79% of Millenials, 64% of Gen Xers and 38% of Baby Boomers described themselves as excited about the bargains.
Of those planning to participate in Prime Day and other summer sales events, such as Target Deal Days, 76% said they would spend more or the same amount as last year. As for motivation, 56% of consumers said they save money by shopping on Prime Day, while 32% want to get ahead of their seasonal holiday and 23% are in back-to-school mode.
When it comes to merchandise categories, Home Goods/Home improvement was the second most popular segment, with 29% of event shoppers planning a purchase. That’s behind Apparel, at 43%, but ahead of Health & Beauty, at 26%, Computer/Electronics, at 22%, Pet Products, at 17%, and Toys, at 16%.
Despite widespread reports that retailers such as Target are overstocked, 64% of consumers believe discounts will be smaller this summer than last.
Almost 24% of consumers surveyed said they wouldn’t shop on Prime Day because they have less discretionary money to spend because of higher prices. Others will not participate this year because they are worried about the economy and its impact on their financial situation, at 21%; shifting spend to necessities, at 20%; and putting extra money into their savings, at 15%.
Although shoppers have returned to physical stores, Adobe noted consumer spending digitally continues to see a modest increase with consumers spending $78.8 billion online in May, more than $1 billion over the prior month. Gen Z and Millenials shoppers are relatively eager online shoppers, with 50% and 49%, respectively, saying they do most of their shopping online. The number falls off thereafter, with Gen X at 35%.
After dealing with the changing fortunes experienced the past two-plus years, including recent supply chain woes, 57% of consumers said they searched for and bought products online when they couldn’t find them in stores.
More than half of respondents, at 67%, said when shopping in-store or online, they would like to receive personalized promotions or offers based on their spending habits, with 61% also saying that receiving such promotions will make them more likely to make a purchase. Variation in likelihood to purchase based on generation exists, with Gen Z at 72%, Millennials at 78%, and Gen X at 66% saying they would welcome personalized offers. Among those who have received personalized recommendations, 72% said the prompts led them to purchase more goods than they originally planned.
Adobe indicated, a significant proportion of consumers want new, unique shopping experiences. As such, 37% of consumers surveyed are open to the idea of augmented reality experiences, 28% are interested in immersive and interactive shopping experiences such as shopping in the metaverse, and 26% already have participated in live-streaming shopping events. Enthusiasm for each follows in echelon in the Adobe study, with Gen Z leading and Millenials trailing followed by GenX.
Almost half of Millennials said they have used buy-now-pay-later purchasing, with Gen Z just a bit behind them. Just less than a third of GenXers have tried BNPL compared with 14% of Baby Boomers. Home Goods/Home Improvement is the third-best merchandise category for BNPL purchases, at 31%, with apparel at 44%, Computers/Electronics at 33%, Health Beauty at 21% and sporting goods at 18%.
Then, 72% of consumers said they want online purchases delivered the same day or via two-day shipping.
