A large majority of UK shoppers are mistrustful of social influencers despite young shoppers admitting they are influenced by their suggestions.
According to new research conducted for BBC Radio 4 by analyst firm Savvy Marketing, 82 per cent of those questioned admitted it was not always clear when an influencer had been paid to promote a product.
Despite this the survey, which questioned over 1000 shoppers, found that 54 per cent of 18 to 34-year-old beauty buyers said they were still influenced by their suggestions.
“The shoppers of the UK are a knowledgeable lot and tend to be pretty wise when deciding how much to trust an influencer’s recommendations,” Savvy Marketing’s Alastair Lockhart told the BBC.
“However, we can see from the research that it’s not always clear and a lot of younger people in particular are influenced by their suggestions.”
The meteoric growth of social media has meant that social influencers have become a lucrative resource for retailers and brands to promote their items.
Selfridges’ beauty director David Legrand added: “When you have an influencer speak about product straight away, almost within an hour of them promoting something, you can see uplift in sales. Brands are trying to influence the influencers or have influencers of their own.
“It’s sometimes difficult for the public to work out what is and isn’t bias.”
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
