Considered shopping to drive holiday season sales

High on the list for the majority of shoppers this Black Friday are essential items on sale. New data from American Express shows 21 percent of consumers will be gifting essential items this holiday season and over 70 percent will be looking to purchase goods on sale. A further 52 percent of consumers say they are more likely to shop with a retailer that has a loyalty scheme.

This means shoppers will be highly focused on the items they seek out and purchase. Frivolous spending is giving way to considered gifting and buying as many plan to spend in line with Christmas 2021 but in a more resourceful manner.

With higher costs of living many consumers think retailers could do more to counter rising prising. A good example is Primark, after having increased prices 8 percent this autumn it said it would not again raise prices before Christmas, despite expecting a take a 2 billion pound inflation hit.

Dan Edelman, Vice President & UK General Manager, Merchant Services at American Express told FashionUnited:

“As ever, sales and promotional events like Black Friday will be firmly on consumers’ radars this year. People will always want to make the holiday season special, but the prevailing economic conditions mean shoppers are laser focused on value and what they spend their money on. Recent American Express research found over a third of UK shoppers plan to make the most of the seasonal sales to get the best deals. Shoppers are budgeting carefully and planning how they make the most of their spend. This means Black Friday will be more important to retailers this year, who are likely to extend their sales events over a longer period rather than squeeze them into just a few days.

“What people are buying is also changing; while consumers will always look for a little luxury or ways of treating loved ones, sometimes gifts that people really need or find useful are the most valuable. This certainly appears to be one of the underlying sentiments around gifting this year, with our research finding one in five shoppers will be gifting ‘essential items’ this Christmas. However, despite cost-of-living pressures, nearly half (48 percent) of UK shoppers said they plan to spend the same this Christmas as they did last year – meaning there remains plenty of opportunity for retailers.

“There is also room for all sizes of retailers with our research finding that consumer sentiment toward shopping with small businesses remains strong, reinforcing the unique appeal they hold with shoppers. More than three-quarters (77 percent believe it’s more important than ever to support small businesses this holiday season and seven in 10 people (72 percent) prefer to shop small to find personalised and unique gifts – offering reasons for small business positivity despite their well-publicised challenges.”