What, Exactly, Is Influencing Our Holiday Gift Choices? (Infographic) For starters, think free shipping, online reviews and, yes, it's still relevant: in-store shopping.

By AJ Gerritson

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

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It's the most wonderful time of the year, but because there's a lot of money being spent to create that wonder, we at 451 Marketing were curious to learn just how 2016's savvy consumers planned to tackle their holiday shopping.

After all, the proliferation of technology and paths to purchase are having a massive ripple effect on brands and retailers, requiring more nuanced strategies than ever before across PR, social media, SEO, email marketing and design.

Related: Ecommerce Is Growing, But Customers Still Prefer Shopping in Stores

What better way to unravel the complex web of influences on today's holiday shopper than to go directly to the source? So, now, after surveying 500 consumers nationwide, from millennials, to Gen-Xers, to baby boomers, we believe our results shed some light on the season's most updated level of complexity.

Some of our findings?

  • 76 percent of shoppers surveyed indicated that free shipping would influence them to move forward with a purchase
  • 46 of shoppers said they'd consulted online reviews before making a purchase, beating out any exploration of brand and retailer sites, use of price-comparison sites and research into products in-store
  • 75 percent of shoppers aged 18-24 (millennials) said they spend less than $500 on holiday gifts

Image credit: 451 Marketing
AJ Gerritson

Founding Partner, 451 Marketing.

AJ Gerritson is a founding partner at 451 Marketing, a fully integrated marketing, advertising, and communications agency headquartered in Boston. He co-founded the agency in 2004, and oversees the agency’s strategic direction as well as the sales and marketing efforts across offices. He holds over 14 years’ experience in brand strategy, public relations, advertising, search engine optimization and interactive marketing.

 

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