UK consumers have started Christmas shopping early – report

Is it too early to begin talking about Christmas? Some might think so (even though for retailers and brands, festive season planning has been well under way for ages). It’s not too early for some consumers either, with a new report showing that as many as 63% of UK consumers begin festive shopping by July.

Bazaarvoice, the platform for user-generated content (UGC) and social commerce solutions, has released its Global Holiday Season Consumer Behavior Report in which it spoke to a total of 8,000 consumers internationally with 2,000 of them being in Britain.

And while we frequently hear complaints about retailers unveiling Christmas windows and launching Christmas ad campaigns in October or early November, a staggering 41% of Britons say it’s “never too early for retailers and brands to showcase holiday items”.

Not that the 63% of Britons shopping as early as this month are necessarily taking a deep dive into the festive season. But the activity will be ramping up in the weeks and months ahead and by August as many as 69% of them will have started gift shopping. Some 77% of them will have begun this September and 85% by October.

And the survey results also showed that Britons are four times more likely to start shopping this early than those in the US (13%). Germans are pretty slow off the mark as well, although two-thirds will have started by October.

Overwhelmingly, UK shoppers are “far more excited about the holiday season” than other national groups. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re looking for the seasonal atmosphere of physical shops leading up to the Christmas period.

The report shows that many UK consumers did most of their holiday shopping online last year (39%) vs in-store (24%). Some 57% of Britons are also more likely to purchase a product online if given a discount code by the retailer.

Going directly to the websites of the brands and retailers they like is the most popular way for Britons to start shopping (30%). They also lead the way when it comes to how helpful consumers find gift guides — with 39% saying that they find them helpful.

We know that many consumers now hunt down gifts via social media and the report said that “whether aimlessly scrolling or actively looking for gifts, British consumers say video format shines brightest on social media when capturing their attention during the holiday season most effectively (38%)”.

They mostly prefer to watch videos that are 1-5 minutes long (32%), closely followed by videos that are a minute or less (29%).

They also like UGC (47%) but with a close 44% preferring brand-created content and only 8% favouring influencer-created content. The majority of UK consumers (62%) don’t seek out creator content on social media during the festive season at all.