Gift buying Brits like physical and mobile experiences, Bazaarvoice

Research by Bazaarvoice, conducted among 2,500 respondents in the US, UK, France, and Germany, finds that both younger and older consumers complete the majority of their gift buying in shopping centres.

When paired with data from across the company’s network of 6,000 brand and retailer websites, the study also identifies Europe as the leader in mobile shopping with 67% of traffic coming from this channel during the holiday season, compared to 59% in the US. Data from the consumer survey states only 5% of respondents plan to do the majority of their holiday shopping via mobile. It’s possible, however, that consumers may not realise how much they actually use their phones to shop during the holidays, Bazaarvoice reckons.

Sophie Light-Wilkinson, VP Marketing EMEA at Bazaarvoice, comments, “More and more we’re seeing consumers rely on mobile to verify products they’re considering in-store. With the majority of shoppers around the world (63%) stating they will complete the bulk of their holiday purchases online, digital marketers must interrogate any assumptions they’ve made about the online path to purchase.”

In the UK, 32% of consumers claim they will complete ‘the majority of purchases’ in physical shopping centres. In particular, they are more likely than the global average (26%) to pick traditional mass merchants such as John Lewis and Debenhams (30%).

Assessing the appetite for peaks such as Black Friday, the study reports four in five UK consumers shop for gifts on sales days, making this market more focused on this style of shopping than the US (63%). Moreover, 29% of Brits kick-off their holiday shopping on Prime Day. By comparison, just 19% of US consumers have started by this point.

However, UK consumers, alongside their global counterparts, are just as likely to report long checkout lines (68%) and overcrowded stores (59%) as reasons for not shopping in store. In particular, UK respondents are more likely to identify pushy sales people as a pain point around the in-store experience (39%) compared to the global average (32%).

When asked how brands could improve experiences, UK respondents picked improved convenience (61%), such as self-checkout and the option to buy online and pick-up in-store. Faster, more efficient shipping solutions were also chosen by 56% of respondents. Amazon is the most common place that shoppers will purchase their holiday gifts this year (49% globally).