Airship research: Brits set for a very virtual Christmas
Mobile app experience company, Airship, has released findings from a survey that provide insights into changing shopping behaviours and preferences of consumers in the UK, US, France, Germany, Australia, Singapore and India.
Airship polled 9,143 people and found Brits to be the most likely to do all of their shopping online this holiday season.
Compared with all other countries, the UK comes in on top at 20%, followed by India (18%) and the US (16%). Only 9% of Brits stated that they will do all their Christmas shopping in physical stores.
Globally, 48% of respondents expect to do three-quarters or more of their holiday shopping online, and 47% say that three-quarters or more will be done on their smartphones rather than on their desktops.
In comparison, 51% of UK respondents expect online to account for three-quarters or more of their holiday shopping, and for 49% three-quarters or more will be done on smartphones rather than desktops.
When visiting a shop, 72% of UK consumers are likely to use loyalty cards or coupons stored on their smartphones, while 69% said they would compare prices (i.e via Google or Amazon), visit the retailers’ website (69%), use the retailer’s app (65%), and check online reviews (63%).
Brett Caine, CEO and President at Airship, says: “Consumers are clearly developing a preference for mobile apps as the primary destination to save them time and streamline their shopping experiences from in-store wayfinding to Click and Collect and curbside pickup.”
“For retailers, apps offer better opportunities to truly understand their customers and form stronger direct relationships, as it’s much easier to tie together their digital and physical activities and engage them throughout their journey with the brand.”
For most countries and generations, the likelihood of using a retailer’s app while shopping in-store, is only a few percentage points behind visiting the retailer’s website.
Among UK consumers, 77% are using retail apps more or about the same since the pandemic began, which, among countries included, is only surpassed by Singapore and India at 79% each.
Overall, 81% of Millennials have used retail apps more or about the same since the pandemic began, followed by 77% of Gen X, 74% of Gen Z and 66% of baby boomers. Generationally, Millennials lead in likelihood to perform all of these in-store digital activities.
