35% of Consumers Plan Earlier Holiday Shopping, Says Piper

About 35% of consumers plan to shop earlier this holiday season, Piper Sandler emailed investors Thursday. Fifty-four percent plan to shop roughly the same as last year; 11% indicated later shopping plans. The survey was fielded Sept. 14-18 with 517 respondents. More than half of consumers are “very much” avoiding large/crowded stores in favor of smaller ones, said the survey, up from 49% in June, while 52% expect to shop online more than before COVID-19. Piper sees an accelerated shift to strong e-commerce and omnichannel retailers in coming years.

Best Buy stands to gain from long-term work-at-home trends. Forty-nine percent of respondents will likely buy CE products for their home office, up from 39% in June. Piper sees a “more permanent” work-from-home lifestyle going forward, with longer-tail benefits for the home office/CE products that Best Buy sells. It sees a “strong pipeline of product cycles” in the second half and in 2021 driven by 5G smartphones, 5G home networking, 8K TVs and PlayStation 5 and Xbox launches.

Cash and check usage was weaker, while debit and credit card usage rose, said the report. Contactless and person-to-person payments gained in the period, though about 45% of respondents don't use contactless payments.

Half of iPhone owners are more interested in buying a new one this year vs. second half 2019 due to the likely launch of 5G models, said Piper. Two-thirds of respondents were iPhone owners. About 15% were less interested in upgrading their iPhone this fall or winter.

Netflix topped the list of video streaming platforms consumers rely on at 66%, followed by Amazon Prime Video (49%) and YouTube (46%). Two-thirds anticipated using Netflix post-pandemic, 46% for Amazon Prime Video. Average hours spent watching TV daily increased to 2.3 hours in September vs. 2.1 in June, twice pre-COVID-19 levels. Cable TV (3 watched hours), Netflix (2.3) and YouTube (2.3) had the highest daily viewership, remaining relatively consistent over the past five months, it said. Disney+ viewing, at 1.9 hours per day, came in higher than the analyst’s assumption for new over-the-top services.

Use of telehealth services grew 54% sequentially, said Piper. Some 43% of September respondents used a telehealth platform in the past three months vs. 28% in June. Forty percent said telehealth is better than an in-office visit, up from 21% in June; 86% of September respondents said the experience was equal to or better than in-office care.