80% of Irish consumers plan to shop online this Christmas – Virgin Media Business
80% of Irish consumers plan to shop online this Christmas – Virgin Media Business
22.3% plan to keep their shopping to the high street and stay away from online retailers
Research carried by Virgin Media Business has revealed that almost 80% (77.8%) or 4 in 5 people will do some, or all of their shopping online this Christmas, with women more likely to shop online when compared with men.
The research, which was carried out by Wolfgang Digital on behalf of Virgin Media Business, surveyed over 1,000 Irish consumers on their Christmas shopping habits in the run up to the festive season.
When asked what factors have caused them to give up on an online purchase, 37% of participants said that a slow website has caused them to give up on buying something, while 28% of participants said that they gave up purchasing something online because the site wasn’t mobile-friendly.
Speaking about the results, Aidan D’Arcy, Head of Business at Virgin Media said: “What we’re seeing is that almost 80% of Irish consumers plan to do some or all of their shopping online, which poses a unique opportunity for Irish retailers to capture a large proportion of the Christmas shopping market.”
“It also poses a threat at the same time as they face missing a large share of the Christmas shopping market if their websites are not up to speed with almost 40% of consumers referencing website speed as a factor for giving up on an online purchase. It is therefore vital for Irish e-commerce businesses to ensure their broadband speeds are sufficient to deal with the ever-increasing presence of online shopping, especially at Christmas when 4 in 5 people plan to do some part or all of their shopping online.”
Some other key information which the survey on Irish consumers Christmas shopping habits revealed was that:
- 8% of participants felt that giving someone a gift voucher for Christmas may come across as impersonal, but at the same time, 55% of people still planned on buying someone a voucher for Christmas.
- 30% of participants said the price was the main factor when shopping online, with 17% referencing free delivery as the deciding factor. Only 8% of consumers based their decision on word of mouth.
- When it comes to what people want for Christmas, money came out the top of peoples wish lists, while clothes and phones also featured prominently.
The full results of this survey are available at http://vmbiz.ie/blog/virgin-christmas-survey