Covid impacts Christmas as price becomes key - Bazaarvoice study

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 11, 2020

Covid-19 will continue to influence shopping habits this winter, even if there isn’t a significant second wave of the virus. That’s according to research from Bazaarvoice that said consumers will be more cost-conscious than ever this year due to the effects fo the pandemic on their finances.

Some 44% of UK consumers admit that their planned festive spend has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic with 35% saying cost will be uppermost in the their minds when Holiday shopping and 34% saying they’ll be focused on value.

As many as 36% will use price as the deciding factor when choosing between two similar products.

And it’s no surprise that price-cosnscious Amazon will be a key destination this year. It will be used by 57% of Britons for gift inspiration but with as many as 74% planning to buy from the marketplace directly.

That said, when it comes to Gen Z, Instagram is more influential than both Amazon and Facebook, suggesting that Amazon might have to work harder to ensure that those young consumers become converts as they get older.

Overall, Facebook (21%) remains the most influential social media platform across age groups when it comes to gift buying, followed by Instagram (19%) and Pinterest (11%).

Bazaarvoice spoke to over 5,000 consumers globally and also found that almost half of them (49%) are shopping online now more than they were pre-pandemic, with this increasing to 58% in the UK. 

And while UK shoppers will be influenced by price and value this year, we can’t ignore the importance of reviews. Some 31% said they would look at reviews to help them decide between two products. And Britons are generally more detail-focused compared to their international counterparts when it comes to product recommendations and feedback. UK shoppers see the detailed nature of a review as more important than a standalone product rating, while it’s the other way round for many American and French shoppers.