Brief:

• Snapchat reported that its customers were big spenders during the past holiday season, buying 20% more gifts than the average consumer who doesn't use Snapchat, per a Murphy Research study commissioned by Snap. Snapchat users in the U.S. made 850 million shopping trips on Black Friday weekend in 2017 and were 64% more likely to start holiday shopping on Black Friday than non-users.
• Victoria's Secret and Target saw the biggest jumps in foot traffic among Snapchat users on the annual shopping holiday, with respective store visits reaching 15 times and 13 times higher than on a typical day, followed by Macy's, Hot Topic and Hollister. Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts and Subway were the most popular restaurants that Snapchat users visited in the week before Christmas. MAC's makeup gift packs and Staples' last-minute shipping and gift card printing services were most sought after by Snapchat users, per the study.
• When people weren't shopping during the holidays last year, many went to the movies. On Black Friday, 45% more people visited theaters than the Friday before, while 17% more saw a movie on Christmas verses the same day one week before.

Insight:

This data on Snapchat users' shopping habits come as brands begin to prepare for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the rest of the holiday season. In addition to showcasing the specific stores and restaurants that Snapchat users visited during the 2017 shopping rush, the data also shows the habits of users when they're not shopping, signaling what they may be interested in come this year's annual holiday season.

Holiday sales likely will show gains from last year as unemployment hovers at an 18-year low and U.S. economic growth is forecast to be the best in more than a decade, per Macroeconomic Advisers data cited by The Wall Street Journal. Total retail sales in the U.S. are predicted to rise 3.8% during this year's holiday season, a slower pace than last year's 5.5% gain, eMarketer estimates. But the shopping gains won't be felt universally, as consumers continue to migrate to online stores for many products. Foot traffic in U.S. retailers slumped 7.7% in November and 7.5% in December 2017, according to RetailNext, while e-commerce grew 17.8% those months. But that growth is forecast to slow to 15.3% this year, eMarketer predicted.

This data points to how retailers and brands could leverage fresh strategies to lure shoppers to their brick-and-mortar locations. Experiential pop-ups, concept shops, connected stores and mobile location-based coupons or rewards are a handful of ways retailers have begun to experiment with to better engage with consumers and get shoppers to come — and return — to stores.