A recent study has found that the vast majority of British shoppers plan to use new technologies to conduct their Christmas shopping this year.
According to a survey commissioned by the Logic Group, 74% of shoppers would prefer to use contactless card payments for their 2015 Christmas shopping. Additionally, over half of those surveyed want to pay for Christmas shopping in 2015 with their smartphone.
This news follows a Christmas that has been dominated by ‘Omnichannel’ shopping. The survey estimates that more than 42.5 million British consumers had taken advantage of retailers who provided multiple channels to buy their gifts. Many stated that they had used a combination of in-store, online and ‘Click and Collect’ for their 2014 Christmas shopping.
Respondents cited being able to compare deals and increased speed and convenience as reasons for the popularity of online shopping.
The success of larger retailers with online offerings suggests that this trend will accelerate in the coming years. John Lewis revealed in a trading update that total like-for-like sales had risen 4.8 percent to £777m in the five weeks to 27 December; while shop sales stayed flat, online purchases had risen 19 percent.
‘Click and Collect’ represented 56 per cent of online sales, overtaking home delivery. Meanwhile, Next’s online portal helped to produce a 2.9 per cent increase in sales from 28th October to 24th December 2014.
Nick Stacey, Director of Business and Market Operations at The Logic Group, commented: "British consumers are eager to have a quick, convenient and secure shopping experience – at the click of a button, in-store or on-the-move. Retailers who have rolled-out omnichannel customer interactions in 2014 are coming out ahead of the rest."
He added: "2015 will be a crucial year for retailers to truly utilise multiple shopping channels and offer secure payments in order to enhance consumer confidence and overall profitability."
