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“Its mid-December – how did that happen?” “Better start my Christmas shopping. “ Both phrases we use year in year out with the realisation that Christmas is just around the corner.
Christmas is now firmly in our sights now the madness of Black Friday and Cyber Monday has passed for another year, but something feels different this year. Perhaps it’s the falling retail sales, dropping consumer confidence, and stalling footfall figures or the recent string of administrations and rising online sales contributing to this feeling; perhaps it’s just the snow.
Indeed with Black Friday sales having monumentally shifted online this year, you would be forgiven for thinking that Christmas will follow suit. There are conflicting reports.
More than half (54%) of shoppers do their Christmas shopping online, according a survey of more than 1,500 adults by market research and insights agency Trinity McQueen. Personally, this is where I sit, smugly saying that my festive shopping is now complete.
However, according to a survey of 2000-plus people conducted by mobile network GiffGaff, almost 52% of participants stated they do their Christmas shopping in-store and prefer to shop this way.
There is a definite shift in the way people shop, hunting out the best bargains both on and offline, split by age and gender as to the preference for which method of shopping suits. Indeed, FSP’s research suggests that pure online shoppers are rare; with click & collect and multi-channel shopping making in-store just a part of the jigsaw. The challenge remains to make shopping an experience rather than a chore
What the next few weeks hold for retailers remains to be seen, but FSP will keep you updated with our regular Christmas Sales Reports in January.
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