UK brands could see valued customers jump ship to competitors if supply chain challenges threaten product availability as we approach retail’s busiest shopping season. It turns out we are much less patient than our friends over in Europe!
ChannelAdvisor surveyed more than 3000 online shoppers from across the UK, France and Germany and asked whether customers would wait for an item to come back into stock if it was initially unavailable. ChannelAdvisor found that 81% of British consumers say their first response to an out of stock item would be to purchase a similar product from a different brand. Brits are the least patient shoppers of those nationalities surveyed, with 77% of French and 62% of German shoppers saying they would jump ship to other retailers.
The research also found that Brits have been most likely to embrace the post-COVID ecommerce surge. More than half of UK consumers say they are shopping online more frequently than they were before the COVID-19 crisis struck in March 2020. This is compared to 42% of German consumers and 40% of French shoppers.
There are signs that brands would be well-placed to target younger customers via Instagram this holiday season. While just 26% of all UK consumers say they have purchased products online after seeing advertisements, sponsored content or posts on Instagram over the last 12 months – however, this rises to 61% among UK 18-25 year olds and 50% among 26-35 year olds. Similarly, just 29% of all UK shoppers say they have researched products on Instagram over the last year, but this increases to 68% for 18-25 year olds and 54% for 26-34 year olds.
ChannelAdvisor also found that 47% of UK online shoppers say they are purchasing more frequently from Amazon than they were before the COVID-19 crisis and the research suggests that Amazon will continue to dominate across retail’s peak season. 59% of all UK online shoppers say they plan to buy the majority of their peak-season purchasing through Amazon, rising to 68% of 36-45 year olds and 66% of 46-55 year olds.
Amazon will also dominate as a research tool this holiday season and there will likely be heavy competition to capture attention on the platform. More than half (54%) of consumers say they plan to use the marketplace giant to research potential Christmas purchases – this rises to 63% for 36-45 year olds. Just 35% say they’ll utilise a brand’s own website, highlighting that brands must ensure they’re listing products further than their own channels to secure attention this year. In comparison, 47% of UK shoppers say they plan to research via Google searches.
“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. 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, for the intense shopping activity during Cyber Five and for last-minute buyers. Those brands that will thrive this year will already be reviewing last year’s sales to identify top sellers and evaluate new styles or product lines that may be popular during the peak season.”
– Vladi Shlesman, Managing Director, EMEA, ChannelAdvisor
