A sizable minority of shoppers say they would take advantage of Christmas Day shopping, and the vast majority of shoppers say they strongly value good customer service during the holiday season, according to a new study by LoyaltyOne Consulting.

If retailers opened for business at 6:00 p.m. Christmas evening, 18 percent of general population respondents said they would take advantage of the extra time to shop. Among millennials in the 18-24 age group, 30 percent said they’d shop on Christmas. Among older millennials in the 25-34 year-old age bracket, 27 percent said they’d leave hearth and home on Dec. 25 to head for the mall.

Conversely, 24 percent of the general population said they would not shop on Christmas, would be less likely to shop in the future at a store open on Christmas or recommend such a store to friends and family. Moreover, 58 percent of the general population said simply that they’d never shop on Christmas. The never-shop-on-Christmas scores for young millennials (age 18-24) and older millennials (age 25-34) were roughly equivalent (53 and 52 percent, respectively).

While consumers appear divided on the shop-on-Christmas issue, they are united in demanding that retailers put their best foot forward when it comes to customer service during the holiday season, their busiest time of the year:

Among all shoppers surveyed, 94 percent said they expect retailers to take extra measures to keep checkout lines moving during the holiday rush. In addition, 80 percent said they blame the retailer if they have to wait because of another customer’s coupons, returns or customer service problems. The one exception to this is the millennial demographic, where four out of 10 said they resent the other customer, not the store, for making them wait

Eighty-nine percent of all shoppers said they expect retailers to take extra measures to keep departments orderly despite the busy season. Twenty percent of shoppers reported an unhappy experience during last year’s gift-buying season that completely ruined their holiday mood; for young millennials (18-24) that score soared to 40 percent, and for older millennials (25-34) it was 30 percent. Finally, 59 percent of shoppers said holiday gift return policies make or break their opinion of a retailer.

Dennis Armbruster, consulting managing partner at LoyaltyOne, summarized the findings of the study.

“Consumers are telling us in this survey that the holiday gift-buying season is, itself, a high-risk touchpoint,” Armbruster said. “Shoppers are demanding retailers maintain service levels—they’re making it clear to retailers they're not prepared to cut them any slack when it comes to their expectations. Retailers that focus on pricing, assortment and other operational concerns but fail to invest adequately in delivering high-quality service during the holidays are risking long-term revenue losses.”

Despite the reputation that crowded parking lots have for keeping shoppers away, survey takers indicated their time is a more precious commodity than a parking space. When asked why they avoided stores completely during the holiday season, 36 percent of shoppers said their primary reason is waiting too long at the checkout.

LoyaltyOne’s survey results are based on an online survey in November of 1,267 American consumers. 

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