Thanksgiving QuickWit (11/25) – Top Retail News of the Day

We hope you have a wonderful day filled with friends and family….. and if you need an escape, here are today’s top retail news stories.

Snapchat Adds New ‘Food Scan’ Capacity to Provide Recipe Matches for Food Items

Snapchat is adding another element to its ‘Scan’ feature with the addition of ‘Food Scan’ in partnership with Allrecipes, which will help Snap users find recipe recommendations by simply scanning in the ingredients that they have available at any given time. Kroger has been piloting a similar idea since Oct of last year with their “ChefBot” but we haven’t heard too much press about it since it launched.

Holiday 2021: Meet the Hybrid Shopper

How will consumers behave during the holiday 2021 season? A new study from 84.51 reveals omnichannel shopping is here to stay as we adapt to the ‘next normal.

Six myths of holiday shopping 2021 busted

Ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, NPD asked more than 1,000 U.S. consumers about their expectations for holiday shopping. Here is some of what it discovered:

- Think the economy is uncertain? Seven out of ten (70%) consumers spend the same or more than last year.
- Think consumers are avoiding shopping in stores? Only 9% said they are hesitant to shop in stores this year, 26% tell us they are looking forward to shopping in stores, and 82% will be splitting their shopping between physical stores and e-commerce.
- Think everybody started shopping early? Four out of 10 holiday shoppers (38%) haven’t started shopping yet.
- Think Black Friday is dead? Nearly one quarter (23%) planned to wait until Black Friday to start their holiday shopping, and 36% are looking forward to Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals.
- Think supply issues drove early holiday shopping? The top two reasons consumers shopped early, each cited by 42% of shoppers, were taking advantage of holiday deals and promotions and the desire to avoid the more hectic shopping days later in the season.
- Think tech products will be under most trees? Gift cards top the list of gifts consumers plan on buying, and apparel took the lead in gifts already purchased and items they are buying for themselves.