One in three medium sized retailers expects 10% or more of their Christmas sales will be financed by credit deals they offer customers.
New research from retail finance specialist Pay4Later reveals 53% of people expect to do some of their Christmas shopping on ‘Cyber Monday‘, which is set to be the busiest day of the year for online shopping in the UK.
The findings show that more than 24.9 million people intend to shop online today, building on the momentum of Black Friday. Older shoppers are joining in as well – 43% of over-65s intend to do some of their Christmas shopping today. However younger shoppers are most likely to buy online tomorrow with 61% of 18 to 24-year-olds hunting bargains.
The study shows that 30% of people will do 10% or more of their Christmas shopping on Cyber Monday, and around 940,000 shoppers plan to do 50% or more of their festive buying then.
Scott Law, CEO of Pay4Later said: “The retail sector is receiving a real boost from the combination of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the same weekend. Online retailers however need to be able to offer credit as well as discounts in order to maximise sales and to enable customers to borrow responsibly.”
However UK consumers more are now more sceptical of personalised offers than their US counterparts. Research has revealed that American consumers are as much as twice as likely to appreciate personalised treatments when shopping online than their British counterparts.
Today‘s Cyber Monday, which is estimated to generate more than £500m worth of sales in the UK, retail marketing platform AgilOne commissioned research into the differences between UK and US online shopping habits. They found that for VIP customers, only 25% of UK consumers said they appreciate VIP treatment in the form of a gift for loyalty, compared to 50% of US consumers.
The survey, conducted by retail analysts Conlumino, also found that 50% more US than UK consumers are likely to appreciate being sent a coupon for a product they looked at online.
Omer Artun, Founder and CEO of AgilOne, says: “With Cyber Monday fast approaching, it is critical for retailers on both sides of the pond to ensure they get the right level of personalisation with each individual customer. Even if only a minority of customers wants personalisation, it is still very important for retailers to serve these customers – it is important to know who wants personalisation and who doesn‘t and treat each customer differently. Personalisation has proven to boost revenues and loyalty by as much as 30% overall, as much as 600% for a single marketing campaign, says Omer Artun
“These results highlight the importance of understanding customers, and adapting campaigns for different nations, regions and individuals.”
“It‘s essential then that retailers truly understand their customers. It could be financially damaging to merchants if they offered a discount to every customer that visited their website. By using data, retailers are able to spot trends and gain insight into individual shopping behaviour to ensure discounts are not being offered to customers that are likely to purchase goods at full price anyway.”
The research also found that preferences on the type of data shoppers like retailers to remember also varied significantly, with American consumers holding much higher expectations of retailers than those in the UK. For example, only one in six people in the UK expect retailers to remember their size, whereas in the US the figure is two in six.
Half of consumers surveyed in both countries said they expect online retailers to remember their past purchases with the same number also appreciating an email offering a discount for a product they previously looked at online.
