A Cross-Channel Holiday

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By: Kaitlin T. Gallucci

There’s already a great deal of research and discussion regarding this holiday shopping season, which is now getting into full swing. Consumers will be researching, comparing, and making purchases across channels. What’s particularly interesting to note is what types of purchases are likely to be made in a particular channel.

Twenty-seven percent of holiday shoppers are “digital goods shoppers,” purchasing digital gifts like e-books, digital music files, digital movie files, game downloads, digital service subscriptions, Facebook or Xbox credits, etc. What you may be surprised to know is that 55% of digital goods shoppers plan to purchase these digital gifts in brick-and-mortar stores.

With retailers offering physical gift cards redeemable for virtual goods, purchases do not need to be done electronically. Evidently, a majority of shoppers would prefer to buy these types of gifts in-store. I imagine that this may be influenced by the fact that a gift card can be physically given to someone in a way that a digital gift itself cannot. Retailers are likely aware of this; as Pandora One just launched its physical gift cards, founder Tim Westergren wrote, “It's really exciting to see Pandora featured in a retail location. Something about a physical object in a brick-and-mortar store that feels a bit different, and really cool.”

Of course it’s worth mentioning that, like their non-digital counterparts, digital goods shoppers are looking for value — 91% say price will influence where they decide to purchase these digital gifts.