With over one billion shoppers eagerly preparing to shop for gifts, decorations, and seasonal essentials, now is the perfect time to refine your marketing tactics and connect with these shoppers. With holiday retail sales set to reach $1.37 trillion, it’s time to unwrap holiday spending insights to ensure that your holiday advertising campaigns light up the festive season. The holiday shopping frenzy offers marketers and retailers a chance to capture attention, drive sales, and build lasting customer relationships.
In this blog post, we’ll reveal holiday shopping audiences, including 19 new audiences, designed for you to reach the most relevant shoppers for your campaigns. These audiences are available for activation on-the-shelf of most major ad platforms, including TV and programmatic. You can find the complete audience segment name in the appendix.
2024 Holiday spending trends and insights report
Download our latest report for data-driven insights you can use to refine your messaging and reach the right audience in their preferred channels this holiday season.
Download nowHoliday shopping styles
It’s important to understand how your holiday shopper “shops,” with individual shopping styles varying from a last-minute dash to the store to the one-stop shopper. One in three consumers anticipate beginning their holiday shopping before October this year, with Millennials and Gen Xers being the most proactive, due to concerns about items running out of stock. In contrast, 42% of Boomers are generally less inclined to shop early, wanting to start their holiday shopping in November or December. All generations are motivated to shop early by discounts.1
By choosing and activating the right audience segments, you can deliver messages that resonate with the consumer’s preferred shopping style, ensuring your holiday campaign will align with their shopping preferences and behaviors.
Here are five audiences that you can activate based on shopping style:
- Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers
- One Stop Holiday Shoppers/Power Shoppers: In-Store or Online
- Impulse Buyers
- eCommerce Diehards
- Brick & Mortar Diehards
Discount-seeking shoppers
The holiday season is a time of giving, but also saving! Consumers are driven to shop early by discounts and early sales — 52% of consumers said discounts are their biggest motivator to shop early. Price is another crucial factor — 47% of consumers said price is the most important factor when deciding where to shop during the holiday season. Major holiday shopping events, such as Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, are expected to attract a significant portion of consumers this upcoming year.2
Here are eight audiences you can activate to reach discount-seeking shoppers:
- NEW! Discount Holiday Shoppers
- NEW! Cyber Monday Holiday Shoppers
- NEW! Black Friday Holiday Shoppers
- NEW! Big Box/Club Stores Holiday Shoppers
- NEW! Online Coupon Users
- TrueTouch: Online Coupon Site
- Department Store Deal Shoppers: In-Store or Online
- Post Holiday Shoppers
Gift givers
Holiday shoppers are torn between saving and splurging. Nearly a third of consumers anticipate spending more on holiday shopping this year, while the same number of consumers say they’ll be spending less. Boomers anticipate spending the most on gift cards, Gen Z on clothing, and Millennials on toys, electronics, and experiences.3
Given holiday shoppers’ varied spending habits, it’s important to target the right audience segments to maximize your impact. Targeting specific audience segments allows advertisers to better reach those most interested in their products.
Here are six audiences you can activate to target gift givers:
- NEW! Luxury Gift Shoppers
- NEW! Holiday Shopping High Spenders
- NEW! Holiday Shopping Moderate Spenders
- NEW! Holiday Charitable Donations
- High Spend Gift Shoppers
- Heavy Buyer/Spenders Holiday Shoppers: In-Store or Online
Holiday travelers
In 2023, nearly three million travelers passed through airports on the Sunday after Thanksgiving alone. Take advantage of the busy travel season with our audience segments. By targeting specific travel preferences and behaviors, you can capture the attention of individuals planning trips this holiday season.
Here are seven audiences to tailor your campaign according to travel preferences:
- NEW! Holiday International Travelers
- NEW! Holiday Travel-Train
- NEW! Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers
- Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Domestic Trips
- Air Travel (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly)4
- Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Frequent Spenders
- Hotels: Frequent Spend
When you work with Experian, you work with a single data provider that gives you access to audiences across multiple verticals and categories, such as travel and retail.
Targeted advertising this holiday season with Experian audiences
The holiday season is the busiest time of the year for advertisers. Experian’s data, ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, allows advertisers to reach people based on demographic, geographic, and behavioral attributes (e.g. websites visited and purchase history). By using Experian’s audiences in your holiday advertising campaigns, you can reach last-minute shoppers, discount-seeking shoppers, gift-givers, and holiday travelers.
Just as shoppers seek the perfect gifts, with the right strategy, your holiday advertising campaigns can capture the right shoppers this holiday season. Can’t find the audience you’re looking for or need a custom audience? Connect with our audience team for more information.
You can activate our syndicated audiences on-the-shelf of most major platforms. For a full list of Experian’s syndicated audiences and activation destinations, download our syndicated audiences guide.
Explore our other seasonal audiences that you can activate today.
Footnotes
- Online survey conducted in June, 2024 among n=1,000 U.S. adults 18+. Sample balanced to look like the general population on key demographics (age, gender, household income, ethnicity, and region). n = 204 Gen Z, n = 234 Millennials, n = 270 Gen X, n = 272 Baby Boomers.
- Online survey.
- Online survey.
- “Fair Lending Friendly” indicates data fields that Experian has made available without use of certain demographic attributes that may increase the likelihood of discriminatory practices prohibited by the Fair Housing Act (“FHA”) and Equal Credit Opportunity Act (“ECOA”). These excluded attributes include, but may not be limited to, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, marital status, age, disability, handicap, family status, ancestry, sexual orientation, unfavorable military discharge, and gender. Experian’s provision of Fair Lending Friendly indicators does not constitute legal advice or otherwise assures your compliance with the FHA, ECOA, or any other applicable laws. Clients should seek legal advice with respect to your use of data in connection with lending decisions or application and compliance with applicable laws.
Appendix
Here are the complete audience segment names (taxonomy paths) for all audience segments discussed in this blog post.
Holiday shopping styles
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: One Stop Holiday Shoppers/Power Shoppers: In-Store
- Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: One Stop Holiday Shoppers/Power Shoppers: Online
- TrueTouch: Communication Preferences > Purchase Behavior > Impulse buyers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase behavior > Shopping Behavior > In-Store vs. Online: eCommerce Diehards
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase behavior > Shopping Behavior > In-Store vs. Online: Brick & Mortar Diehards
Discount-seeking shoppers
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Cyber Monday
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Black Friday
- NEW! Retail Shopper: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Big Box/Club Stores Shoppers
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based >> Discount Holiday Shoppers
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Online Coupon Users
- TrueTouch: Communication Preferences> Purchase Behavior > Online Coupon Site
- Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Department Store Deal Shoppers Online Spenders
- Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Shopping Behavior > Department Store Deal Shoppers In-Store Spenders
- Retail Shoppers: Purchased Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Post holiday
Gift givers
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Luxury Gift Shoppers
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: High Spenders
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Moderate Spenders
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Charitable Donations
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Shopping Behavior > Gift Shoppers High Spend Spenders
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Heavy Buyer/Spenders: Online
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Shoppers: Heavy Buyer/Spenders: In Store
Holiday travelers
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday International Travelers
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal> Holiday Travel-Train
- NEW! Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Seasonal > Holiday Budget Savvy Airline Travelers
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Domestic Trips
- Lifestyle and Interests (Affinity) > Travelers > Air Travel (FLA/Fair Lending Friendly)
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Vacation/Leisure Travelers: Frequent Spenders
- Retail Shoppers: Purchase Based > Travel > Hotels: Frequent Spend
Latest posts
Hi, Dana here with an update on my holiday shopping post from before Thanksgiving. Like I thought, I was able to get most of my shopping done that Black Friday weekend. It was all pretty fast and easy, but I did have one not so great experience too. My sister knew I was going to get something for my niece, so when she got an email from Toy World that everything would be 50% off on Black Friday she forwarded it to me to let me know. I was thrilled. I had done some searching for good toys this year and had some ideas. While I normally would shop online, the Toy World coupon said the 50% off was in-store only so I braved the crowds for a good deal. Unfortunately, when I got there I learned that the email was wrong – only select items were 50% off and others were buy one, get one 50% off. I was pretty upset because the hottest toys were the ones excluded from the deal. I came all that way based on the email. I wound up getting a gift, but I could have saved myself the hassle and long lines, especially since I didn’t get a deal that was different from any other day. That was a rough start to the shopping weekend, but, no worries, things improved. I have to tell you about my best shopping experience – I’ve been telling everyone! This year I used Pinterest to see what my mom has had her eye on lately. One of her pins is a food processor and I think that’s a perfect gift for her. I’m a card holder and reward member at Aaron’s department store and I know they carry some really nice kitchen appliances. They also happened to send me great Cyber Monday coupons in the mail – it was perfect timing. I went online on Cyber Monday, used the promo codes from the coupons and not only got great deals, but got free shipping too! How easy was that?! They also sent me shipping notifications so I knew exactly when to expect the package. I am really happy that I got something great for everyone on my list and now have time to enjoy the rest of 2012. I hope you enjoy it too! XOXO, Dana Editor’s note: You can tell that Aaron’s knows Dana. They used their direct mail piece to send her online offers because they know that’s her preferred purchase method. They’ve won her over once again and created a brand advocate. Learn where your company stands in your marketing efforts today, and how you can help move efforts forward to ensure your customers have good experiences like Dana had with Aaron’s, and avoid bad ones like her trip to Toy World.
With the busy holiday marketing season in full swing, Experian Marketing Services has released its online retail round-up for the week ending December 8. The online traffic to the top 500 retail sites increased 5% for the period of December 2 – 8, compared to the same week in 2011. Additionally, Amazon remained the top visited site among retailers, followed by Walmart and Target. The chart below includes the top 10 results: Experian Marketing Services also tracks top product searches. Listed below are the top 5 product searches for the week ending December 8: Uggs iPad mini iPad Beats by dre Ipod touch We will continue to publish weekly retail site data and insights through this holiday season. Please leave us a comment below if you have any specific questions along the way. Learn more about the author, Matt Tatham
Twenty years ago this week, the first mobile text message, or SMS, was sent by British engineer Neil Papworth. Today, Americans are texting more than ever and among young adults, many of whom were not yet born when the first message was sent, texting is almost as common a mobile activity as talking. And why wouldn’t it be? According to the latest Simmons National Consumer Study, 48% of adults ages 18-to-24 say that a conversation via text message is just as meaningful as a telephone call. A similar share of adults ages 25-to-34 feel the same way. Regardless of age, texting is still, technically, the second most common activity that Americans engage in on their cell phone after talking. During a typical week, 95% of mobile adults talk on their mobile phone, while 59% text. Among adults ages 18-to-24, however, 89% talk on their phone and 85% text. Despite the increasing availability of mobile chat or instant message applications, texting remains the dominant means for exchanging short messages. Only 8% of all mobile adults use their phone to IM or chat. The fastest thumbs To get a more in-depth understanding of the texting habits of adults today, we leveraged data from the Simmons Connect mobile panel of 1,485 U.S. smartphone owners. Hands down, young adults text more than any age other age group. During a typical month, in fact, smartphone-owners ages 18-to-24 send 2,022 mobile text messages and receive another 1,831 for a combined total of 3,852 texts sent and received. With every age bracket we move up, the number of mobile texts drops by roughly 40%. For instance, smartphone owners ages 25-to-34 send, on average, 1,110 text messages a month and receive another 1,130 for a combined total of 2,240 messages. We are also able to leverage the Simmons Connect smartphone panel to understand mobile calling behaviors. The data shows that while young adults hold the record for the most text messages sent and received, they actually make and receive few calls, by comparison. During a typical month, smartphone owners ages 18-to-24 make 119 calls on their mobile phone and answer another 64 calls. Adults ages 35-to-44 make and receive the most calls on their mobile phones in a given month. (Call counts do not include inbound and outbound calls that go unanswered.) Text around the clock Unlike television and radio, which have peak hours for reaching consumers, mobile text messages reach Americans throughout the day, providing advertisers with a medium to connect with consumers any time they want or need. No surprise, young adults are the most likely to send and receive mobile text messages throughout the day. The smartphone panel data shows that during every hour between 8:00 A.M. and midnight, more than half of young smartphone owners are both sending and receiving mobile text messages. Even when most of us are asleep, young adults’ smartphones continue buzzing from inbound texts. In fact, 37% of 18-to-24 year-old smartphone owners receive texts at 4:00 in the morning. By comparison, just 20% of smartphone-owners ages 25-to-34 years-old receive texts at this late (or early) hour as do 17% of those 35-to-44, 15% of those 45-to-54 and 10% of those ages 55 and older. Better to send or to receive? During overnight hours, the share of young smartphone owners who send texts surpasses the share who receives them. However, by 8:00 A.M., the difference between those two figures narrows to the point that they are nearly equal. In fact, from noon until 11:00 P.M., young adults are more likely to send mobile text messages than they are to receive them. Call or text? While texting is still a secondary use of mobile phones after calling, that’s not the case all day, especially among young adults. In fact, while smartphone owners ages 18-to-24 are more likely to make an outbound call than they are to send a text from their phone between 7:00 A.M. and 10:00 P.M., they are more likely to send a text between 11:00 P.M. and 6:00 A.M., during hours when they might understandably wake the recipient. That should help us all sleep a little better.