Consumers are watching their spending this holiday season and, consequently, retail sales are lower than last year. However, there is still hope that stores may see a boost. We know that 18% of US consumers will wait until the last minute to start their holiday shopping, which means retailers still have a week to get customers shopping in their stores.

Retailers, we have TONS of information on who is planning to shop at the last minute and how they differ from other shoppers. 62% of last minute shoppers are men, 55% don’t have children, 43% live in a city, 43% are married, while 38% are single, and 66% are employed. Now let’s look at the top 20 differences of last minute shoppers:

  1. Last minute shoppers are 63% more likely to be men than women.
  2. They are over twice as likely to say religious beliefs are not at all important.
  3. They are 95% more likely to say the benefits of nuclear energy strongly outweigh the potential risks to the environment.
  4. Last minute shoppers are twice as likely to hold a sales/operations job.
  5. The shoppers are 83% more likely to say they never watch local news where they live.
  6. They are over twice as likely to say they leave the continent frequently.
  7. They are 38% more likely to say their personal finances are not so good/poor.
  8. They are 19% more likely to be neither a parent nor a grandparent.
  9. Last minute shoppers are 17% more likely to live in a city.
  10. They are 2X as likely to read technology blogs or websites weekly.
  11. They are twice as likely to use public transportation often or every day.
  12. They are 32% more likely to rent their house/apartment.
  13. They are 91% more likely to download music or movies over the internet at least once a week.
  14. They are 66% more likely to prefer action movies.
  15. They are 2X as likely to say they don’t wait in lines.
  16. Last minute shoppers are 61% more likely to normally eat lunch out.
  17. The shoppers are 70% more likely to say NBC has the best weeknight programming.
  18. They are 30% more likely to say they have been much more price sensitive over the past 12 months.
  19. They are 45% more likely to have a very negative opinion of the banking industry.
  20. 42% more likely to take their car to local, private shops for oil changes and minor, regular maintenance.

So what exactly does this mean? Well, most men don’t enjoy shopping, so they will want it to be easy and fast. In fact, men are 48% less likely than women to say they were excited to shop this holiday. The last minute shopper’s personal finances are described as “not so good,” which means they may be holding off shopping in hopes to score some great sales and deals. If TV ads are on during NBC’s weeknight programming, there’s a higher chance last minute shoppers will see the ads. The majority of shoppers don’t have children; therefore, they probably won’t be focused on buying children’s toys or clothing. They live in the city and take public transportation, so they’re probably going to limit their number of stops and instead go to a one-stop-shop, such as a shopping mall or a big box retailer. Lastly, they hate waiting in lines, but that will probably be hard to avoid since many people will be picking up last minute gifts over the next week.