FusionOps Survey: Almost Half of Americans Predict Temper Tantrums in Event of Holiday Gift Shortage

A third of Americans claim manufacturers should be blamed for fights
caused if a Holiday gift shortage was to occur

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–FusionOps, the supply chain insights company, today released a new
survey gauging Americans’ reactions should retailers run out of hot
holiday gifts and the potential havoc such shortages could wreak on the
holiday. Forty-five percent of Americans say that the most likely result
of holiday gift shortages would be temper tantrums, and that a shortage
of smartphones would cause the biggest problems for consumers during the
holiday season (36 percent). Almost 1 in 4 (23 percent) of Americans
would be willing to “play dirty” if that’s what it took to walk out of a
store with the last hot holiday gift. This was especially true of
students age 18+ (36 percent) and parents with children under age 18 in
the household (37 percent) compared to those with no children under age
18 in the household (16 percent).

What’s the worst that could happen?

Some Americans think that the most likely result of a holiday gift
shortage is temper tantrums (45 percent). Interestingly, students age
18+ predict this – and other repercussions – more vigorously than
parents do:

Which of the following could result from a holiday gift shortage?*
			Students					Parents of children
			Age 18+					under age 18
Temper tantrums			61 percent					44 percent
Crying			54 percent					43 percent
Spoiled Christmas Day			56 percent					31 percent
Fights			49 percent					32 percent
Increased burglaries			27 percent					22 percent
Cold shoulders			25 percent					15 percent
Kids threatening to run away			17 percent					10 percent

*Not all responses shown

Whether or not the students age 18+ were predicting their own reactions
to holiday gift shortages cannot be deduced from the data.

When asked who should be held responsible if family fights break out as
a result of a holiday gift shortage, if there is one, Americans readily
pointed the finger at manufacturers (37 percent), followed by retail
stores (27 percent) and, in a distant third place, parents (13 percent).

“Predicting the future is hard, no doubt, but with so many technology
advancements surrounding consumers today, they are less forgiving and
more frustrated with manufacturers that can’t anticipate possible
shortages,” said Gary Meyers, CEO of FusionOps. “For businesses serious
about brand reputation and customer loyalty, it is time to leverage the
massive amount of business data to mitigate risk and maximize the sales
opportunity that comes only once per year.”

When asked which hot holiday gift shortage would cause the biggest
problem for consumers this holiday season, 36 percent of Americans name
smartphones. Twenty-nine percent feel the biggest problem would be
caused by video game shortages such as Guitar Hero Live, Call of Duty
Black Ops 3, and Star Wars Battlefront; 28 percent cite a tablet
shortage, 24 percent say Star Wars toys and 22 percent say smart watches.

Students age 18+ and parents with children under age 18 most likely
to play dirty for Christmas toys

Twenty-three percent of Americans say they’d be willing to behave
unethically if it meant leaving a retail store with the last hot holiday
gift. This number was highest among students age 18+ (36 percent),
parents of children under age 18 (37 percent compared to 16 percent
among those with no children under age 18), and the employed (29
percent) – only 16 percent of unemployed Americans would be willing to
behave unethically to score the last hot holiday gift.

Twenty-seven percent of students age 18+ and 17 percent of parents with
children under age 18 say they’d be willing to lie to other shoppers
(compared to 7 percent of parents with no children under age 18); 14
percent of students age 18+ and 16 percent of parents with children
under age 18 would be willing to cut in line (compared to 8 percent of
parents with no children under age 18); and 13 percent of students age
18+ and 8 percent of parents with children under age 18 would be willing
to knock an adult down (compared to 3 percent of parents with no
children under age 18).

Nine percent of students age 18+ and 8 percent of parents admit they
would even be willing to push over a child if it meant leaving with the
last hot holiday gift (compared to 2 percent of parents with no children
under age 18.)

Can the President help Santa Claus?

Forty percent of Americans and 51 percent of Millennials believe that
one of the current presidential candidates is in a position to ensure
there won’t be a holiday gift shortage of the items they want to buy.
When asked which 2016 candidate who, if they were President today, would
be best at ensuring there won’t be a shortage, 20 percent say Donald
Trump would be best at this, while 12 percent of general respondents (17
percent of Millennials) put their faith in Hillary Clinton. While the
general respondents put less faith in Bernie Sanders on this front (7
percent) more Millennials (14 percent) think President Sanders would do
an adequate job of ensuring hot gifts make it home for the holidays.

Methodology:

This survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Poll
on behalf of FusionOps from October 15-19, 2015 among 2,014
adults ages 18 and older. This online survey is not based on a
probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling
error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including
weighting variables, please contact Press@FusionOps.com
or (415) 913-7528.

About FusionOps

FusionOps provides the cloud-based analytics platform that mines the
world’s information and makes it actionable to help people make faster,
better business decisions. Thousands of users in over 80 countries
worldwide rely on FusionOps to optimize their supply chain performance
in order to improve operations, bottom-line business results and
customer satisfaction. Unlike business intelligence tools, FusionOps is
a cloud-based application that provides leading metrics to drive better
decisions with information that is relevant and actionable. With
FusionOps, companies can eliminate extensive costs and the resources
spent developing their own supply chain applications and improve time to
value. Learn more by visiting www.fusionops.com.

Contacts

for FusionOps
Gabrielle Jasinski, (415) 913-7528
Press@FusionOps.com