Issue link: http://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/1055891
Holiday Season Expectations A new Online Holiday Shoe Sales Survey, commis- sioned by the Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America and conducted by the research center at Emerson College, finds that 31 percent of the U.S. adult population intends to purchase footwear online this holiday season with another 22 percent likely to buy new kicks online. Some 49 percent of those online shoe purchases were expected to be made between Thanksgiving and Nov. 30. Additionally, 25 percent of the respondents said their online footwear purchase would occur during the first two weeks of December. The most likely footwear purchasers this holiday are expected to be 18- to 29-year old women with college degrees and living in the Western U.S., according to the study, which also suggests only 14 percent of U.S. Northeast consumers are very likely to purchase new shoes during the holidays. So where will survey respondents buy their new footwear, and how much will they spend? Some 57 percent said they would turn to Amazon, 18 percent would make purchases at retail websites and 12 percent would rely on brand websites for their shoe purchases. Nearly 57 percent of respondents said they intended to spend between $250-500 on footwear during the season. Slightly more than 23 percent planned to spend more than $500. Sneakers (performance and casual/retro) were predicted to dominate all purchases at 58 percent, followed by fashion/dress (15 percent), fashion boots (12 percent), winter/snow boots (8 percent) and work boots/shoes (5 percent). l SHOPPING THE FOOTWEAR EYE 14 • Footwear Insight ~ November/December 2018 footwearinsight.com CORRECTION Gold Medal Standout Valley Sole In our September/October issue of Footwear Insight, we highlighted a select group of retailers who have earned the Gold Medal Service Award all four years it's been awarded. Valley Sole of Huntsville, AL, was inadvertently left off the list. Valley Sole, led by mother-daughter team Holly McGinness and Julie Pierce, is one of just 13 stores that have earned the GMSA distinction four years running. Read the cor- rected issue online at footwearinsight.com. For more on the Gold Medal Service Awards, visit www.footwearinsight.com/goldmedal. Brooks gets in the holiday spirit with the Ugly Sweater Levitate 2 running shoe.