This year’s seasonal spending forecast from ShipEngine and Retail Economics expects UK households to have billions of pounds less to spend on celebrating Christmas than they did a year ago as inflation impacts their discretionary income.
According to the researchers, this will manifest itself in a variety of ways, such as starting your holiday shopping early to spread out the expenditures and score some deals.
In addition, despite this year’s excellent recovery of physical stores, consumers are more likely to shop online marketplaces.
During Black Friday and December, it’s anticipated that online marketplace spending would reach £ 17.9 billion. Additionally, online marketplaces should generate up to £ 202 billion in revenue across all overseas markets (the Peak Season Report 2023 also included the US, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Canada, and Australia).
According to the report, up to 79 per cent of UK consumers will cut back on non-food purchases, a 9 per cent increase over last year. 34 per cent of respondents cited inflation as the cause, while 22 per cent cited a lack of funds.
A quarter of merchants responded to the fact that 40 per cent of consumers intended to start their holiday shopping before October by planning to launch deals before that month. Similar numbers intend to expand holiday advertising generally.
Up to 57 per cent of consumers worldwide intend to complete most or all of their holiday shopping online. However, the percentage was just 49 per cent a year earlier. This reflects a trend towards holiday buying online that has been evident for a number of years. Additionally, the 57 per cent in the UK is dwarfed by the 64 per cent planning to shop online.
Meanwhile 90 per cent globally will visit online marketplaces in particular, but 95 per cent in Britain will do so. The reasons include a perception of better value and the ability to compare both products and prices. In the UK, 71 per cent of consumers also think they get faster and more reliable delivery from such marketplaces.
