NEW YORK- Almost one out of every five consumers —17 percent — plan to use social media such as Twitter and Facebook during their holiday shopping this season, according to Deloitte’s 24th annual holiday survey of retail spending and trends. Of those, 60 percent will use social media to find discounts, coupons and sale information, and 53 percent will research gift ideas using social media.
Younger age groups are the majority of social media users —52 percent of people planning to use social media for the holidays are in the 18 to 29 year old range. One third is in the 30 to 44 year old age group, and one in 10 are in the 45 to 60 year old age group.
In addition, one in five consumers expect to use their cell phones to help shop this season, to find store locations (55 percent) or product information (40 percent), research prices (45 percent), get discounts and coupons (32 percent) and read reviews (31 percent). Thirty-nine percent also said they read consumer reviews of stores and products online, and 25 percent said they will buy a product based on them.