If you’re like many Americans, you have a long list of people to shop for this holiday season.
According to a recent survey of people 18 and older done for retail real estate company Simon Property Group Inc., 40 percent of Americans said kids are their favorite people to shop for. A spouse (or partner) came in second on the favorites list, with 24 percent of the vote. But according to Simon, poor Dad didn’t fare so well:
“Dad,” alas, barely sputtered across the finish line with a mere 2 percent of respondents saying he would be their favorite person to shop for this holiday season. Sad to say, Dad finished behind “someone else” at 3 percent.
Interestingly, not a single woman surveyed selected “Dad” as her favorite person to shop for. According to MarketWatch, Mikael Thygesen, chief marketing officer for Simon, said fathers sometimes struggle to articulate their interests, making them difficult to shop for.
“Chicago area psychologist Nancy Molitor adds that ‘men’s interest in gadgets or tools or car-related stuff is often mysterious and daunting to women’ and that ‘it’s also not fun or pleasurable for most women to shop for guy stuff like this,'” MarketWatch said.
The survey also looked at who is shopping at the mall during the holidays. You may be quick to peg the digitally savvy millennial crowd as online-only shoppers. But the survey revealed that millennials will be hitting the mall in overwhelming numbers this holiday season.
Eighty-nine percent of millennials said they planned to shop at the mall for holiday gifts, leading Simon to jokingly refer to the young generation as “mallennials.”
“The wide variety of shopping options is a major mall attraction as they search for that perfect gift for family members, friends and co-workers,” said Thygesen.
Other survey findings include:
- 83 percent of Americans plan to shop at the mall this holiday season.
- Nearly 9 in 10 shoppers said they have to browse stores to get ideas for gifts.
- Half of shoppers said they’ll use their phone to compare prices while shopping in a store.
I despise shopping for my dad. I love him dearly, but I never know what to get him. Typically, if he wants something, he buys it himself, so it really is a challenge to shop for him. My husband isn’t much easier.
Who’s your favorite person to shop for during the holidays? Where do you do most of your holiday shopping? Share your comments below or on our Facebook page.
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