45% of UK consumers planning to complete their Christmas shopping early this year

A new study published by customer engagement platform Braze shows that 45% of UK consumers are planning to complete their 2021 Christmas shopping by the second week of December – an average of one week earlier than in previous years. The findings come as the UK faces goods, fuel, and labour shortages, which the country has felt particularly acutely in the post-Covid-19 economy due to Brexit. 

The report – based on a survey of 2,000 UK participants – said that the shift in habits is being driven by the risk of delayed deliveries potentially keeping Christmas gifts from arriving on time (35%), warnings about supply chain disruption (31%), and fears of new lockdown restrictions ruining celebrations (31%).  

30% of respondents said they are planning on hosting their annual Christmas dinner before 25 December to avoid possible new lockdown restrictions, with 9% planning to bring the celebrations as far forward as November. Additionally, 39% of consumers are planning to shop less around promotional events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, because retailers are offering more year-round savings and early sales. 

James Manderson, VP of Global Customer Success for Braze, said: “As 2020 was a disappointing Christmas for many families, it won’t be a surprise to retailers that Christmas is coming early this year. The challenge will be how to make the most of it, and there is a huge opportunity to engage existing customers. The temptation might be to increase the communications across all your channels, resulting in message ‘burnout.’ It’s important that retailers have the right tools in place to engage customers respectfully in a coordinated way with relevant offers and information on the right channels, at the right time.”

Braze, which is currently preparing to launch its initial public offering on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, provides mobile marketing automation services for the likes of Domino’s Pizza, SoundCloud, HBO Max, and Urban Outfitters. The company says that brand loyalty has increased during the past year. From September 2020 to September 2021, there was a 14% decrease in new user growth across platforms, while sessions per user increased 17%, which it says indicates that users are both browsing earlier and sticking with known brands. 

You can find out more about the Braze Christmas Consumer Survey here.  

Main Image: Adobe/chrisdorney

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