We write for Total Retail about consumer analysis on holiday shopping concerns

Many external factors, such as inflation and an overall cost-of-living crisis, are affecting holiday spending this season. However, what are consumers really worried about? Our Content Marketing Manager, Alister Houghton, writes about consumer analysis on the subject for Total Retail in an article called Holiday Struggles: Text Analysis Reveals Consumers’ Christmas Concerns.

In the piece, he covers some of our most recent text analytics of social conversations to provide a unique window into consumer anxieties and holiday shopping concerns and how these may impact retailers this season. He says: “To get into the “why” and the “how,” retail organizations need to delve into data that goes beyond the numbers and offers explanation and further context. Here’s where analysis of unstructured text data can help.”

We examined two waves of social text data, in both October 2021 and October 2022, equalling 25,000 tweets. By looking at a year-over-year comparison, we were able to use the Relative Insight platform to build an understanding of consumers’ specific concerns, the ways in which behaviors are changing, and what all this means for retailers.

In the article, Alister covers consumers’ specific holiday shopping concerns, including verbatim tweets, that show how economic upsets are affecting the holiday spirit, including purchase behaviors. The data from 2022 shows a significant shift and increased concern over finances when compared to just one year prior. 

So what can retailers do to allay these worries among their audiences? Referencing another study that we conducted with our partners at Golley Slater, Alister outlines some key findings that can help retailers navigate today’s landscape, including technology adoption, offering sought-after discounts and cash back offers, and focusing on solutions for women, who have been shown to be most affected by the economic downturn. 

He concludes the piece with: “While the current environment presents a massive challenge for retailers and other consumer brands, a deeper, more granular understanding of audience feelings and behaviors can help to guide decisions. As retailers face their own set of rising costs, it may be difficult to simply cut prices, but there are some creative ways to resonate with audiences. By using techniques such as text analytics to clarify numerical data, retailers can start to gain a more holistic understanding of the needs of their customers.” 

Read the complete article here.