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Christmas may feel a long way off, but in the world of retail it's just around the corner and fast creeping up. So while our clients are busy preparing promotions and setting up shop for a prosperous festive season, we've been busy polling the public about where they typically start their search for that perfect gift. In August 2020, we asked 1,000 adults in the UK:
"When you're looking for a gift for someone, where do you most often start your search?"
When we break the data down by gender, we can see clear differences.
Women are far likelier to do their gift shopping (Christmas or otherwise) in a physical store (36.7%) while just 23% of men start their search for the perfect gift offline in this way.
We found huge variations in our gift shopping statistics on an age level.
Here's the data.
18 - 24s | 25 - 34s | 35 - 44s | 45 - 54s | 55 - 64s | 65+ | |
On Amazon | 43.20% | 24.00% | 25.70% | 30.20% | 28.50% | 30.30% |
I go to a shop/shopping centre | 20.80% | 27.30% | 25.30% | 36.30% | 35.20% | 37.30% |
Google or another Search Engine | 18.80% | 28.20% | 26.20% | 20.20% | 24.50% | 17.40% |
On Ebay | 0.00% | 9.40% | 11.70% | 8.50% | 6.20% | 7.70% |
On Facebook | 4.00% | 5.30% | 7.30% | 2.30% | 2.50% | 3.70% |
On Instagram | 10.50% | 4.50% | 2.30% | 1.80% | 2.00% | 0.00% |
Other | 0.60% | 1.30% | 1.50% | 0.70% | 0.00% | 3.60% |
Asos | 2.10% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 0.00% | 1.10% | 0.00% |
It's important to note with these statistics that the question was around where gift shopping STARTS. And a look inside your own Analytics Data (assisted conversions) will tell you that there are often multiple touch points in the journey from beginning the search to actually converting and making that purchase. So don't assume that the place in which someone starts there search will be the place in which they complete the transaction.
In short? That the big opportunity is online. Yes, the High Street still has its pull but with more and more of our spending going online, this represents a huge opportunity for online retailers.
These are statistics that give us a very brief hint into the shopping process around gifts.
But if you have a clear idea as to your demographic (age and gender in the very least) you can start to build a picture of which channels should be amongst the most important for you over the busy Christmas Shopping period.
The data was collected using Google Surveys in August 2020. It should be noted that the only means of respondents getting involved therefore is online - so the figures here apply to only adults with Internet access of some description (enabling them to be online to answer the question).
18th Jan 2021