Ahead of Christmas shopping season, Airship has released findings from a global survey that provide insights into changing shopping behaviours and preferences of consumers in the U.K., U.S., France, Germany, Australia, Singapore and India.
The survey, commissioned by Airship and conducted in partnership with Sapio Research, polled more than 9,000 consumers across major markets in Europe, America and Asia, found that UK consumers to be the most likely to do all of their shopping online this holiday season. Compared with all other countries, the U.K. comes in on top at 20 per cent, followed by India (18 per cent) and the U.S. (16 per cent). Only 9 per cent of Brits stated that they will do all their Christmas shopping in physical stores.
Globally, 48 per cent of respondents expect to do three-quarters or more of their holiday shopping online, and 47 per cent say that three-quarters or more of their online shopping will be done on their smartphones rather than on their desktops. In comparison, 51 per cent of U.K. respondents expect online shopping to account for three-quarters or more of their holiday shopping, and nearly half (49 per cent) three-quarters or more of their online shopping will be done on smartphones rather than desktops.
The survey also highlights the rising usage of smartphones while shopping in-store. When visiting a shop, 72 per cent of UK consumers are likely to use loyalty cards or coupons stored on their smartphones, while 69 per cent said they would compare prices (i.e via Google or Amazon), visit the retailers’ website (69 per cent), use the retailer’s app (65 per cent), and check online reviews (63 per cent).
Brett Caine, CEO and president at Airship, said: “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, despite people having to first download them from the App Store or Google Play. Among UK consumers, 77 per cent 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 per cent each.
Overall, 81 per cent of millennials have used retail apps more or about the same since the pandemic began, followed by 77 per cent of Gen X, 74 per cent of Gen Z and 66 per cent of baby boomers. Generationally, millennials lead in likelihood to perform all of these in-store digital activities.
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