Jersey shoppers to buy more gifts online this Christmas

Thursday 26 November 2015

Over 50 per cent of shoppers in Jersey are set to buy the majority of their Christmas gifts online this year, with a quarter planning to increase their internet shopping spend.

That's the finding of a new study, commissioned by online furniture retailer Mypad, that reveals growing numbers of people in Jersey are buying goods online; with more people expressing a preference for shopping online than on the high street.

The 'CI Shopping Trends Survey' questioned nearly 200 Channel Islanders about their shopping habits and preferences. It found over a third of Islanders (35%) prefer online shopping to the high street, with 65 per cent buying goods online in the past week compared to 58 per cent on the high street.

Tomorrow is Black Friday, which is set to be the UK’s first £1 billion online shopping day, and the busiest day of the year for internet shopping.

Paul Clark, Managing Director of Mypad, said: “More and more people are shopping online all year round so it’s natural that this trend continues at Christmas. Our research demonstrates that online shopping is overtaking high street spend. In the last week it was more likely that a purchase was made online than in St Helier.

“Compared with a survey we commissioned two years ago, we can see a clear increase in the number of people who are actually spending more online, although there is no increase in the number of people who say they are spending more. This reiterates how internet shopping has simply become the ‘norm’ now.”

According to the survey:

- Over a third of respondents (35%) said they preferred to shop online and a sixth (18%) said they preferred to shop on the high street (47% had no preference).

- ‘Ability to shop around for a lower price’ was the most likely motivator for online shopping, followed by ‘availability of greater variety of products/brands’ and ‘flexibility of shopping hours’.

- As far as the barriers to purchasing online were concerned, ‘ability to deliver to your home’ was the most important reason given in the Islands, followed by ‘risk of not getting quality that I expect’. ‘Difficulty involved in returning products’ was another popular reason given in all both Islands, as well as ‘not being able to touch and feel the product’ 

- Over 60 per cent of respondents (63%) said that they will purchase the majority (between 60% and 100%) of their Christmas shopping online with over 20 per cent (22%) saying they would purchase between 20% to 40% of their Christmas gifts online. In 2013, half of Jersey shoppers said that intended to purchase about a quarter of their presents online.

- A quarter of respondents (24%) intend to increase their internet shopping spend this Christmas, whilst 66 per cent believe they will spend the same amount as last year.