Survey finds UK shoppers least likely to wait for stock during supply chain challenges

Multichannel commerce platform ChannelAdvisor has found that UK shoppers are less likely to wait for stock than their EU counterparts.

The ChannelAdvisor survey gathered data from more than 3,000 online shoppers located in the UK, France and Germany.

With supply chain disruptions threatening revenues, the overall result found that British shoppers are the least patient shoppers out of the various nationalities included in the survey. Asking whether customers would wait for a product to come back into stock if it was unavailable, the survey found that 81 percent of British customers were likely to buy a similar product from a different brand.

Compared to British shoppers, only 77 percent of French and 62 percent of German shoppers said they would switch to another retailer in the case of an unavailable item.

55 percent of UK shoppers also said that they were shopping more frequently since the Covid-19 crisis struck in March 2020. On the other hand, less than half of the German and French shoppers admitted to the same, with only 42 percent of German and 40 percent of French shoppers embracing the post Covid online shopping wave.

“The pandemic led British shoppers to become increasingly savvy around e-commerce and this has been a lifeline for many brands selling online. However, this also means that consumers are all too aware that there’s an enormous number of sales avenues available to them and if a brand can’t provide a product in a timely fashion they’ll see shoppers eagerly spend money with a competitor,” said Vladi Shlesman, managing director and EMEA at ChannelAdvisor.

Amazon is showing signs of dominating holiday season shopping, with 47 percent of UK shoppers saying that they have bought on Amazon more frequently than before the pandemic, and 59 percent saying that they plan to continue shopping on the online platform.

Amazon will also be increasingly used as a research tool during the holiday season, with more than half of consumers indicating that they plan on using it to research potential holiday purchases. Around 68 percent of 36-45 year olds and 66 percent of 46-55 year olds in the UK say they will use the site for holiday shopping.

Instagram is becoming a growing presence in regards to younger shoppers. 61 percent of 18 to 25 year olds say that Instagram ads have motivated them to purchase something, and 26 percent of UK consumers indicate that they have bought items online after seeing an ad, sponsored content or posts on Instagram advertisement in the last 12 months.

Around 29 percent of UK customers have also researched an item on Instagram in the last year - however this increases to 68 percent of younger consumers in the 18-25 year old bracket, and 54 percent for 26-34 year olds.

“Brands will need to watch stock supply more closely than ever in the lead up to this Christmas, ensuring inventory is available to early festive shoppers,” said Shlesman.