In an era when people can buy gifts with the click of a mouse or push of a button, in-person retail shopping is still an important part of the American holiday shopping experience.
A study from JLL, a real estate services company, found that only 16.3% of consumers plan to shop exclusively online this holiday season, meaning more than 83% will incorporate physical retail stores into their shopping plans.
“It’s tradition,” said Nate Dais of Pittsburgh while shopping Wednesday with friends Rich Reed and Zion Leath at The Waterworks strip shopping center near Aspinwall. “It’s a buzz of having a good time.”
There’s just something special, Dais said, about mall shopping during Christmastime.
To Dais, in-person retail shopping provides an opportunity to browse different stores and come across potential gifts that he otherwise might not have thought of buying. It also ensures a sense of confidence in knowing exactly what he’s buying.
“I know I’m buying what I’m going to get,” Dais said. “I know it’s going home with me today.”
Reed, also of Pittsburgh, is a little more split between in-person shopping and online purchases.
Nearly 75% of consumers plan to use multiple purchasing methods to complete their holiday lists, though indoor mall shopping has declined to just under 50%, according to JLL’s study.
“At Amazon, I get exactly what I want shipped to my house in two days,” Reed said. “The thing I love about mall shopping is, you can go to restaurants and other things.”
Braden Hall, 17, and Krysta Harper, 18, both of Pittsburgh, were shopping at the Monroeville Mall this week.
“I probably do half my shopping online and half in-person,” Hall said. “There’s so much more online, and it’s a lot more convenient.”
Harper said she tries to do most of her holiday shopping in-person for a specific reason.
“I don’t like paying shipping and handling,” she said. “It can add up.”
Tom and Susan Dickey of South Charleston, W.Va., decided to do some holiday shopping while visiting family in the Pittsburgh area.
“Exercise is part of it,” Tom Dickey said. “Clothing — in particular, shoes — you can try it on and not have to try it on after you ordered it and send it back because something wasn’t right.”
To some degree, he said, enjoying in-person retail shopping could be a generational trait.
A Deloitte study found that younger generations, particularly Generation Z, appear to be reshaping how holiday shopping happens.
According to the study, 74% of Gen Z survey respondents and 67% of millennials plan to use social media while holiday shopping.
Another generational factor is the use of artificial intelligence in shopping.
The study found that 43% of Gen Z and 40% of millennials will use AI technology before making a purchase. Some of the top uses of AI in holiday shopping include comparing prices to find the best deal, reading AI-generated summaries of product reviews and compiling shopping lists.
What’s missing from those types of transactions, Dickey said, is the personal interactions.
“There’s an atmosphere, a sense of, ‘OK, I’m out Christmas shopping,’ that you don’t have when you do it online,” he said.
Mary Milavic of Ambridge said though she’s comfortable with buying some items online, clothes and shoes should be purchased in-person.
“I want to feel it,” she said. “I want to see what the quality is.”
Milavic estimated 75% of her Christmas shopping is done online.
“The stuff I can get online, I have,” she said. “I still like shopping.”
There’s still something comforting about browsing in stores, said Catherine Parham of O’Hara. But when it comes to holiday gifts, she has a strategy.
“I don’t look online, I don’t browse online,” she said. “I only go online to buy something I know I’m getting for someone.”
Edna Goode of Pittsburgh also is pro-browsing at shops. She can find better deals while shopping in stores, she said, where she’ll be buying gifts for her five grandchildren.
There’s also a nice camaraderie of people when shopping at malls, Goode said.
“It’s a mixed crowd,” she said, “and I like that.”