Which Gift-Shopper Archetype Were You This Holiday Season?

Someone who is essentially in a perpetual state of shopping. Perhaps the type of person to pile ‘gift-like’ things in some cupboard, so that when the moment comes, they not only have a Christmas gift for their partner, but also a piece for the office secret Santa. Genius!

According to James, this archetype tends to make purchases throughout the festive season, almost on a random basis. “They might start their Christmas shopping as early as October,” he says, “but they’ll also be out there ordering the finishing pieces right up until Christmas week. They’re particularly attractive to e-commerce businesses because these shoppers spend the most.”

This is because the everyday shopper isn’t dedicating particular time to their Christmas shopping, yet they can be targeted with consistent, drip-feed media across multiple platforms. “This keeps your brand and store in their mind throughout the Christmas period,” explains James. So, regardless of their lack of schedule and somewhat sporadic purchasing patterns, the everyday shoppers will be the ones dropping the big bucks throughout the winter months. 

Or as we will also refer to them, the ‘planners’. Someone who starts and completes their Christmas shopping “before you’ve even been out and bought an advent calendar,” James tells us. Motivated by convenience, necessitating fast shipping, quick checkouts, and long return policies, these shoppers are the most reliable archetype.

According to Michelle Baumann, chief strategy officer at VMLY&R Commerce US, when looking at the US’ early birdies, they will doubtless be starting their shop before Thanksgiving, with 28% of them starting in October/November and 10% starting as early as the summer! She also explains that this character is most likely to be part of a larger household (43% with a household size of over five people), and is influenced best throughout the year by product displays and in-store signage. 

“They enjoy shopping around at a variety of stores, even if they aren’t going to make a purchase - holiday shopping is just an integrated part of their pre-Christmas months,”

says Michelle. And while the planners purchase gifts in-store, they also do their research throughout the year on brand and retailer websites, ultimately buying online via mobile devices as well. 

Due to this, digital advertising can catch their eye, leading to spontaneous impulse purchases throughout the year, as they “build up their Christmas pile for their family.” The early birds are most likely – according to research from media group Kantar – to browse on Facebook (64%), play single-player mobile games (60%), and enjoy engaging with their favourite brands on social media (41%). What brands should tell this shopper with their communications is how their products would fit in with their family’s lives and habits, but it’s important to remember that this shopper is still “methodical in comparing prices.”

James goes as far as to say that while the boat may have sailed for this year, you should start thinking of getting them for 2024 from now. “It’s never too early to get them thinking about next year. Many early-bird shoppers will begin next year’s shopping in the January sales. Therefore, keep this audience informed about your January sale dates via email and social media.” And, January sales bring us to our next archetype…

Unlike our previous two types, this one isn’t defined so much by time constraints as by prices - they go where the sale is, naturally. Most often found hanging around the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, the deal seeker can also appear at any time or any place, lurking for a Christmas deal. 

Accordingly, says James, your deal seeker marketing should be focused on exclusivity - deals not seen anywhere else and discounts leading all the way up to Christmas day (the bargain hunter can shop at any time, as long as the price is right).

“Important to remember is that this includes not only low prices, but also product bundles, loyalty programmes, and free shipping.”

Michelle calls these the ‘Black Friday rushers’ and tells us that they’re most likely to be gen z and millennials (wonder why?), with these age groups comprising over half of the bargain hunters. They hold off buying until the last minute if they have to, as long as it’s on sale. They’re digitally influenced by advertisements, and product offerings, and are more likely than the average shopper “to do their shopping in the evenings, where they can be found streaming across all entertainment platforms, such as Hulu, Disney+ and Peacock.”

A big influence on this group is word of mouth too, says Michelle - they love asking their friends for help, and especially they shape their opinions on brands they purchase from through social media influencers. Unsurprisingly, the platforms in question here would mostly be TikTok and YouTube. 

While Michelle seems categorical on the age groups of the deal-seeker, Fiverr’s research for Britain’s Christmas shopping habits this year tells us that this behaviour might be a nationwide epidemic, regardless of age. According to Fiverr, the UK lagged behind the US in predicted consumer spending this Christmas season, with only 16% of UK consumers planning to spend more than last year, compared to double the amount of US consumers (32%).

This led to UK retailers actually slashing prices to meet consumers’ expectations, with a whopping 54% of the surveyed by Fiverr UK retailers planning to offer steeper discounts in 2023. Here, some bigger competitors to British independent businesses emerged - e-commerce platforms like Amazon and Etsy worried 55% of businesses. 

And while it seems that deal-seeking has become a popular hobby while everybody is breaking the piggy banks this Christmas, data-driven marketing platform Airtime Rewards tells us a peculiar fact: 11% of UK shoppers don’t even know what ‘Black Friday’ means!

It’s hell out there, it’s horror. The last-minute shoppers are the ones flooding TK Maxx on Oxford Street every year trying to scrape the bottom of the bargain bin for a nice candle, three days before Christmas day. Everything is left until the final hour, so the motivating factors here are speed and convenience. While they seem to be extremely chaotic, James believes that they still seek a way to make last-minute shopping somewhat relaxing.

What works with these folks are marketing messages highlighting last-minute fast shipping, gift guides, gift wrapping and anything that will help save Christmas.

“To prompt them along, you might also want to inject some scarcity into your emails and social media posts too.”

Michelle says that last-minute shoppers skew even more toward gen z and millennials than the bargain seekers. And over half of them are single! “Nearly three-quarters of these shoppers buy items “on the spur of the moment” (73%) and view holiday shopping as a chase itself. While they believe that clipping coupons is a waste of time (53%,), they still claim to look for a discount code before making a purchase (72%).” Funny lot, this one.

If they do have kids, Michelle says that they are the ones to resist their childrens’ whims the least, and are also willing to travel the furthest for what they need. She, like James, believes that if you manage to make it easier for these guys to buy something, they will reward you back with impulsive and overly ambitious purchases. “Brands can make it easy for them to get a discount code through social awareness and capturing attention in stores as they scavenge the remaining deals.”

Now, this is serious stuff. No matter which of the above categories we fall into, we should strive to be this one. Gen z are putting their brand loyalties with fewer and fewer retailers precisely because of the lack of sustainable practices and transparency around them. Peter Aitken says that Kantar’s research points to this - “or now, sustainability is yet to become the prime consideration for pop-ups, in-person events and activations. For both brands and consumers, quality of experience remains king. 

“However, the tide is changing and environmental responsibility is starting to hold far greater weight when it comes to brand reputation than it has ever before – it might not be the driving factor guiding consumers’ choices, but there could be consequences for brands if they get it glaringly wrong.”

So, as we’ve said before - brands that make sustainability a key theme in their activations, campaigns and communications have to ensure that tangible action follows, to not risk being accused of greenwashing. 

“For larger events that clearly use more resources, sustainability has to be addressed as the consequences of not doing so can be potentially very damaging for both brand image and the environment,” says Peter. And the more we all become ‘the sustainable shopper’ the more brands will be pressed to become, well, sustainable companies. 

So, whichever of the above archetypes you fall into or sell to, have a very merry Christmas and remember to save the planet for next year! Happy holidays!