GRAPEVINE, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Just days away from Black Friday, bargain-hunters are ready for the annual “on your mark - get set - shop” when retailers’ doors fly open and the shopping frenzy begins. GameStop, a family of specialty retail brands that make the most popular technologies affordable and simple, today released the results of a national survey of more than 400 holiday shoppers – revealing that respondents are not looking forward to losing valuable personal and family time this holiday season, but are willing to put in the time for the gifts they want most.
Overcome the Shopping Blues
According to survey respondents, approximately 35 percent indicated that if given the option they would prefer spending time with family or friends instead of shopping. For these dispirited holiday shoppers who routinely view the entire shopping experience to the likes of having teeth pulled, GameStop suggests leveraging its pick-up-at-store service, which allows customers to shop for any video game and collectible product from the comfort of their home and pick up their purchase at a local store when it’s convenient. The service can help customers avoid the holiday shopping blues by making holiday gift hunting more efficient and less stressful.
“It’s clear from the results of our holiday survey, customers want to have more time for family and themselves during the holidays instead of spending hours searching for gifts,” said Jason Allen, vice president Multichannel Strategy at GameStop. “At GameStop, we recognize the importance of family and actively work to protect that precious time with policies like remaining closed on Thanksgiving Day. We also offer our customers a range of services to help make the shopping experience easier and more enjoyable.”
The GameStop holiday survey also indicates that the “Holi-daze” derives from anticipation of the time wasted in traffic driving from store-to-store, navigating through large crowds to discover gifts out-of-stock and waiting in never-ending checkout lines. However, this overwhelmed and dazed condition can be easily averted by leveraging GameStop’s mobile app to shop smarter and faster while on the go. With five million users leveraging the app on a regular basis, the mobile platform is open for business 24 x 7 and offers unique features, functionalities and a detailed product trade value center.
Time’s A-Wasting
When it comes to holiday shopping, patience is an important quality among merrymakers. Almost three-fourths (73 percent) of those surveyed expect to waste significant time driving to stores and standing in lines to find the perfect gifts for their loved ones. A full 80 percent of female respondents reported they will wait in line at least 10 minutes and up to “as long as it takes” to get the perfect gift for their loved ones. Representing the other end of the spectrum, male respondents were almost three times more likely to get antsy after just a couple minutes of waiting in line. Altogether, nearly half (48 percent) prefer to spread their shopping sprees in incremental outings of approximately an hour or less each time.
Meanwhile, other shoppers will do whatever it takes to avoid long lines at all costs, including:
- Risking potential shipping delays and mishaps by completing all holiday purchases online (36 percent).
- Stocking closets, attics and cubbyholes with bundles of gifts bought months in advance of the holidays (29 percent).
According to Allen, customers can shop faster and smarter by mapping out in advance where to find video gaming gift items and calling ahead or checking online to ensure the product is still in stock. To help with that, GameStop offers its signature “web-in-store” shopping service as a convenient way to help guarantee every video game or collectible product is in stock by giving customers the choice to order any product online while in a store and having those orders shipped directly to them. For those customers who want a little extra help when shopping for that hard-to-find video game, Allen recommends stopping by a store to tap into the knowledgeable GameStop store associates for one-on-one help.
‘Master’ Shopping Faster
Understanding that waiting in long lines can be the fuse for a tinsel-filled, temper time bomb, GameStop offers a variety of services to help ease the burden of the holiday shopping rush. This holiday, for the first time, the retailer is allowing customers to purchase items using Apple Pay and Android Pay to speed up check out. Those looking to avoid crowds, long lines, or lighten the load altogether can leverage GameStop’s in-store online channel. The service allows customers to shop through a catalog of more than 12,000 hard-to-find video game products within a single store and have them shipped free of charge directly to their homes.
Finally, to make shopping easier, GameStop has outfitted every store with hand-held tablets to enable GameStop associates to research products and help check out customers more quickly from anywhere in the store.
For all holiday gift inspirations, visit a local GameStop store, or the Holiday Hub at www.GameStop.com/Holiday-Hub. The GameStop Holiday Hub brings all the very best products, a host of deals, and interactive tools together in one spot to make shopping easier.
Methodology
This survey was commissioned and conducted by GameStop and research partner Survata.
It was fielded between Sept. 29 and Oct. 15 and more than 400 responders ages 25 to 54 participated in the online survey with a 4.79% margin of error. The complete holiday shopping survey results can be found at GameStop 2015 Holiday Survey.
About GameStop
GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company headquartered in Grapevine, Texas, is a global, multichannel video game, consumer electronics and wireless services retailer. GameStop operates more than 6,600 stores across 14 countries. The company’s consumer product network also includes www.gamestop.com; www.Kongregate.com, a leading browser-based game site; and Game Informer® magazine, the world’s leading print and digital video game publication. In addition, our Technology Brands segment includes our Simply Mac and Spring Mobile businesses. Simply Mac, www.simplymac.com, operates 71 stores, selling the full line of Apple products, including laptops, tablets, and smartphones and offering Apple certified warranty and repair services. Spring Mobile, http://springmobile.com, sells post-paid AT&T services and wireless products through its 410 AT&T branded stores and offers pre-paid wireless services, devices and related accessories through its 68 Cricket branded stores in select markets throughout the United States.
General information about GameStop Corp. can be obtained at the company's corporate website. Follow GameStop on Twitter @ www.twitter.com/GameStop and find GameStop on Facebook @ www.facebook.com/GameStop.
