MasterCard Holiday Shopping Survey Highlights Consumers’ “Return to Fun”

Fifty-Three Percent (53%) of Consumers Bought Both Fun and Practical Gifts This Holiday Season as Spirits Lifted and the Economy Recovered

PURCHASE, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MasterCard Worldwide today released survey results that reveal how consumers demonstrated a “return to fun” this holiday season as they purchased a combination of gifts that were both pragmatic and pleasurable. The MasterCard Holiday Shopping Survey – which was conducted by Harris Interactive – showed that most holiday shoppers (53%) planned to give a fairly equal mix of fun and practical gifts, while only 30% said that they gave mostly practical gifts. Also, about half (49%) of shoppers bought something for themselves this holiday season, with electronics (26%) and personal pampering (21%) being the top “guilty pleasures” consumers would like to receive.

“In addition, social networks and mobile phones will continue to heavily influence how consumers shop in the years to come.”

“This holiday season was not a ‘Crockpot’ Christmas,” said Melody Miller, Group Head, Commerce Solutions, MasterCard Worldwide. “While last year’s shopping was about looking for the best value for the most practical gifts, this year we saw consumers shop for more fun items as their spirits lifted.”

Consumers also took full advantage of the online marketplace not only for the convenience, deals and comfort of shopping online, but also to determine what to buy and where. Thirty-four percent (34%) of Americans aged 18-24 years who planned to shop for the holiday season said they used social networks to get ideas about which gifts to buy, while 25% said that they used social networks to get ideas about where to buy gifts. Mobile phones were also a hot resource for shoppers, as 37% used mobile phones to inform purchases and 22% used their devices to find the best prices.

“Consumers relied heavily on online shopping sites -- like MasterCard Marketplace -- to find the best deals and value -- not to mention save time and cut through the busy holiday clutter,” said Miller. “In addition, social networks and mobile phones will continue to heavily influence how consumers shop in the years to come.”

Shopping into the New Year

Results also showed that consumers plan to continue shopping after the Christmas holiday. In fact, 25% of holiday shoppers planned to hold off purchasing gifts before Christmas so that they could take advantage of post-holiday sales. Of those who were waiting, almost half (43%) will be shopping for themselves, their spouse/partner (35%) and children (34%). More men (50%) than women (36%) plan to shop for themselves after the holidays.

In 2011, 61% of shoppers do not plan to cut back on spending in the New Year as a result of holiday shopping. But 76% of respondents plan to shop differently. The top two ways shoppers plan to shop differently are to take advantage of more sales (51%) and to start shopping ahead of time (49%).

In regards to what would make online shopping easier next holiday season, top responses included more free shipping (58%), more discounts (52%), having one site to go to get deals from their favorite brands (42%), faster shipping (40%) and emailed coupons or flyers from specific online merchants (40%).

Gender Differences Found in how Men and Women Shopped

The survey demonstrated distinct differences between the ways men and women shopped this holiday season. Women appeared more likely to ask recipients what they wanted, but were also more likely to keep gifts they liked most for themselves. Men started their holiday shopping later, were less stressed about last minute shopping and planned to shop more for themselves in the New Year. As of December 19, 34% of male shoppers said they hadn’t started their holiday shopping yet compared to only 19% of women. Additionally, 72% of males who planned to shop were not at all stressed about the fact that they hadn’t started shopping yet, compared to 55% of women.

Survey Methodology

The survey was conducted for MasterCard by Harris Interactive. From December 15, 2010 through December 19, 2010, Harris Interactive conducted telephone interviews with 1,019 adults countrywide age 18 and over. Survey results were weighted to the total US adult population.

About MasterCard Worldwide

As a leading global payments company, MasterCard Worldwide prides itself on being at the heart of commerce, helping to make life easier and more efficient for everyone, everywhere. MasterCard serves as a franchisor, processor and advisor to the payments industry, and makes commerce happen by providing a critical economic link among financial institutions, governments, businesses, merchants, and cardholders worldwide. In 2009, $2.5 trillion in gross dollar volume was generated on its products by consumers around the world. Powered by the MasterCard Worldwide Network – the fastest payment processing network in the world – MasterCard processes over 22 billion transactions each year, has the capacity to handle 140 million transactions per hour, with an average network response time of 140 milliseconds and with 99.99 percent reliability. MasterCard advances global commerce through its family of brands, including MasterCard®, Maestro®, and Cirrus®; its suite of core products such as credit, debit, and prepaid; and its innovative platforms and functionalities, such as MasterCard PayPass™ and MasterCard inControl™. MasterCard serves consumers, governments, and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. For more information, please visit us at www.mastercard.com. Follow us on Twitter: @mastercardnews.