A new study from one of the UK’s top money-saving brands has found that more than half of Britons (57%) chose to brave the high street to do the majority of their January sales shopping, rather than shop online. Clothing, furniture and technology items featured in the top five 2015 January sales purchases, with the average Briton spending a grand total of £295 on sale items.
The research, conducted by www.vouchercloud.com, polled 2488 UK adults, all of whom were 18 years old or over, with an even split of male and female respondents. The survey was conducted as part of the company’s research into the spending habits and choices of the British public throughout the January sales period.
Initially, all respondents were asked whether they had done the majority of their shopping online or on the high street, when it came to the January sales. More than half of respondents (57%) stated that they had done the majority of their sale shopping on the high street, compared to only 24% who shopped online, 11% who had an even split and 8% who had not done any sale shopping.
The respondents who had chosen to shop in the high street were then asked what types of products they had been shopping for. Respondents were able to select all answers they felt were applicable, which yielded the below top 5 most popular items bought on the high street during the January sales:
1) Clothing – 54%
2) Furniture – 48%
3) Technology and Gadgets – 35%
4) Homeware – 32%
5) Children’s toys – 18%
In order to understand the motivation for shopping on the high street rather than online, the survey then asked the same respondents to provide their reasons. The majority (32%) stated that they enjoyed the experience of high street shopping, while 27% stated they didn’t want to wait for delivery and 21% revealed that they wanted to see the products in person. A further 9% state that they enjoyed the chance to haggle face-to-face for extra discounts in-store.
In order to understand the how this year’s spending compared with January 2014, the survey then asked all respondents to detail how much they had spent in the sales during both January 2014 and 2015. The team at vouchercloud.com revealed that the average amount spent in January 2014 of £260 with the figure for January 2015 calculated as £295.
Matthew Wood of vouchercloud.com says: “These results show that people have been less inclined to wait by their laptops, computers and tablets to get the best bargains in January. The high street certainly made a massive comeback in 2015 and many of our retailers have seen an increase on in-store redemptions.
“Amongst other things, this January was far less volatile weather-wise, so perhaps this has tempted the British bargain hunters out on to the high street. One thing is for sure, although the January sales are supposed to be over, we’re finding that there are still thousands of amazing deals available to help the nation through the typically frugal February.”
