Over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend many shoppers turned to “alternative” shopping methods such as click & collect, but a huge amount headed to physical stores, a new survey has found.
An overwhelming 86% of consumers stated they plan to shop in bricks and mortar stores over the festive season, according to the Applause report. With nearly half (48%) of shoppers using click and collect to pick up their goods, while another 41% used a local locker service.
Of those shopping online, 54% prefer to use a smartphone or tablet as opposed to 45% who use a laptop. Smart speakers continue to lag behind, with only 4% saying they would use a voice activated device for shopping.
The report also stressed the influence of social media sites, like TikTok and Instagram, on consumer behaviour cannot be ignored. Only 10% said social media never influences their shopping, with 59% stating that social media often or sometimes influences their festive shopping. More than half (52%) use social media sites to research sales on specific items or brands, while 44% buy items they see advertised on social media.
Looking at cart abandonment, the majority of shoppers (70%) will do so after a maximum of two purchase attempts, and only another 17% will try a third time. Also, despite the growing popularity of omnichannel methods (e.g. click and collect and parcel lockers) 38% would leave a brand due to poor omnichannel shopping experiences.
“If one thing is clear from this year’s survey, it’s that continuing financial pressures mean consumers are less tolerant than ever of poor checkout experiences. With more than half of consumers only reattempting a failed payment twice before abandoning a purchase, transaction errors are something brands cannot afford,” said Luke Damian, Chief Growth Officer at Applause.
“As omnichannel offerings and payment methods continue to diversify, brands need to rethink their testing strategy to account for increasingly complex customer journeys to avoid losing customers this holiday season.”
The survey was distributed in two parts, first in November 2024 on general holiday shopping plans and experiences, and second in December 2024 regarding respondents’ actual shopping experiences between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Over 7,200 respondents from the Americas, EMEA and APAC took part in the survey.
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