Accenture: Consumers to spend more this Christmas
Christmas shoppers plan to spend more this year than in 2013, with 27% indicating to spend £250 or more on shopping than last year, concludes Accenture in its Christmas Shopping Survey. A big portion of the Christmas budgets will be spent online, and the consumers who do so in-store would like to or will make use of online devices that show discounts and different prices, something retailers should respond to accordingly.
Consulting firm Accenture recently released the results of its online 2014 Christmas Shopping Survey, for which it researched a representative sample of 500 UK consumers, from different ages, education, income levels, and gender, in September 2014. The main conclusion of the survey: UK consumers are set to spend more this Christmas, than in 2013.
Of the people surveyed, 33% indicated their plans to spend between £250 and £500 on Christmas shopping this year. 31% plan to spend more on Christmas shopping this year with more than a quarter (27%) indicating to spend £250 or more on shopping than they did in 2013. More than half (54%) said to put money aside to pay for this shopping and 32% plan on taking advantage of special discounts, which are, according to 93% of the respondents the primary driver for spending decisions related to Christmas shopping.
Christmas shopping trends
Accenture’s research reveals specific shopping trends of the UK consumers during their Christmas shopping. Online shopping will play an important role in this year’s shopping as 65% of the consumers plan to spend 50% of their Christmas budget online, main reasons for this are free-shipping (64%), discounts (51%), and easy-to-use websites (49%). Although much of the Christmas shopping will be done online, retail stores will not be left aside as 32% of the respondents say they “love the Christmas shopping experience of going to stores.”
The proliferation of smart phone use and advances in technology will lead to an increasing role for digital in the shopping done in-store. Just over a third (34%) of the respondents say that shopping while using a mobile device will ‘lead to better discounts’ and make it easier to compare prices while shopping in-store. As a result, 82% of the consumer surveyed plan to use or want to try mobile services that will offer them such real-time promotions and offers while shopping. “Mobility is having a dramatic impact on shopping in the UK. With over one-third of survey respondents saying they would use a mobile device in store to compare prices, it is critical for retailers to make it seamless for consumers to trade on mobile applications by incorporating social media and mobile technologies into their stores and multichannel environments,” comments Fiona O’Hara, Managing Director Retail at Accenture UK & Ireland.
