We’ve always loved a good day of shopping in Britain – just look at Oxford or Bond Street on any regular Saturday. For some people the hectic atmosphere is a nightmare, but for plenty of us it’s both energising and exciting. It’s not all shopping centres and High Streets anymore though, as the habits of British shoppers are quickly changing.
A study carried out by Ipsos in late 2013 shows that we’re constantly doing more of our shopping online than in the ordinary physical stores.
Source: James Petts @ flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/14730981@N08/11002217993/)
The numbers make for interesting reading: the study reveals that as many as two thirds of British shoppers have browsed products on a PC in the last four weeks prior to responding to the survey – and only half of them have done it in a physical store.
It seems this trend is much more common to the South East though, as the annual Retail Report from John Lewis indicates that people living in northern cities such as Edinburgh, Newcastle or Liverpool still tend to do most of their shopping in bricks-and-mortar establishments.
Physical stores are far from finished though, as Ipsos also revealed that a convergence of virtual and physical worlds is becoming more and more usual. 40% of shoppers aged 35 or less have done “showrooming”, meaning they browsed items on their smartphone while visiting a store. What’s more, large brands such as Asda, M&S and Zara equipped their staff with iPods or iPads to make it easier for customers to order out-of-stock items for delivery to their home or directly to the store.
The latter service, known as “click-and-collect”, is on the rise as well and is offered by Amazon and Selfridges among other retailers.
Social shopping, although not new to 2013, is still on the rise. 35% of British consumers follow brands they like on social networks, expecting to receive special offers and deals in addition to being genuinely interested in what the brand has to say.
It goes further than that though: in a report by Experian, a social shopper is described as someone who seeks friends’ opinions on social media before making a purchase, cares more about what’s written on social networks than what’s written in magazines, and enjoys getting deals on social media more than shopping directly on a company’s website.
This trend is mostly popular among Brits aged 18 to 24, but the more senior shoppers also have their places to share the merchandise they like with their peers. First and foremost, it’s Pinterest, which had a 786% increase in traffic in the year ending September 2012. Although there’s no reliable data we could find, we can only imagine that it became even more popular during 2013 and the beginning of this year. Either way, as many as 43% of Pinterest users associate themselves with certain brands – you’ll hardly find such an enthusiastic crowd in any other social network out there.
All in all, changes in the British shopping climate are certainly happening as we speak. More and more shopping is done online, so the High Street shops have to do new things to retain their customers, including making it possible to browse the full catalogue or order items while visiting the store.
Social media is also playing a key part in this, as it’s the perfect place to share what you’ve bought or ask your friends for recommendations before purchasing a certain item. The constant growth of online shopping is great for all of us – it both increases the competition between brands and makes the physical stores think of new ways to make the shopping process ever more pleasant and hassle-free.
We have found that for our business there are customer that want to actually experience a product first hand before committing so we have decided to open a showroom later this year (don't worry - we will be inviting you along once it is open).