quantilope Christmas Study: This year 60% of Germans plan to primarily buy their Christmas presents online, and in this area, Amazon is the clear leader.
35 percent of Germans have been thinking about gifts for their loved ones since the summer. This includes almost half of the 18- to 39-year-olds. The majority of consumers are planning to buy their presents mostly online this year. The preferred online shop by far is the Amazon platform. Books and perfume are at the very top of the shopping list. quantilope offers seven Christmas tips for manufacturers and vendors.
Although Christmas is still a few weeks away, 35 percent of Germans have already been thinking about gifts for their loved ones since the summer. 60% of Germans are planning to buy their presents mainly online.
The giant online retailer Amazon is the clearly preferred Internet shop when it comes to buying Christmas gifts this year. This and numerous other insights are found in the representative Christmas study, in which the market research provider quantilope recently surveyed consumers in Germany. The survey covered the awareness and preference of brands and shopping locations as well as advertising channels and emotional associations with Christmas.
The 7 Christmas tips for manufacturers and vendors
The quantilope market researchers have prepared seven Christmas tips for manufacturers and vendors from the responses.The Hamburg-based company quantilope used its Agile Insights Software to analyze consumers’ Christmas feelings three months before the holiday – and discovered interesting insights that help in planning the Christmas business. It is frequently the younger age group, up to 39 years, that thinks about gift shopping very early on. In the age group from 60 to 69 years, in contrast, only a third (33%) consider this topic weeks before the holiday; this number declines to a quarter (21%) in the 70+ demographic.
Online shopping as the most relaxed type of shopping
Six out of ten consumers on average want to mainly buy their presents in online shops this year. Only the under-18-year-olds and the 60- to 69-year-olds rely on brick-and-mortar retail with a slight majority (57% each). Books, perfume, clothes, shoes and coupons are at the top of the ideas for presents. For consumers, the top 5 brands for Christmas are LEGO, Samsung, adidas, Amazon and Sony.
Additionally, Amazon is clearly the king when it comes to shopping sources for Christmas gifts. “You can hardly get around Amazon. For almost three-quarters of the consumers, this is the most relevant online shop, far ahead of German providers such as otto.de or tchibo.de, for example,” states Dr. Peter Aschmoneit, CEO of quantilope.
The quantilope study also reveals that TV is the winner among advertising channels: It reaches nearly two-thirds of consumers, which is far more than the Internet, radio or magazines.
Joy and curiosity contrasted with spending money and gluttony
In addition to these hard facts, the survey provides deeper insights into the consumers’ emotions when it comes to Christmas. The positive feelings associated with Christmas can be summarized with the terms joy, trust and curiosity. The side effects of spending money, gluttony and weight gain are considered particularly negative. Stress and compulsion are also factors. Another unexpected result is that as income rises, more people also associate the holiday of love with fighting. The quantilope study also shows that most consumers associate the traditional colors red and green with Christmas. For brands, brick-and-mortar retail and online shops, the survey results provide competent information to help plan the upcoming Christmas business. The quantilope market researchers have summarized these in seven tips:
The 7 Christmas tips for manufacturers and vendors:
- Start early! Customers start thinking about presents long before the holiday.
- Keep the younger consumers in mind! They are the first to get into the Christmas spirit.
- Make sure the customer journey is relaxing! This will delight stressed shoppers.
- Use Amazon! It's the top contender and you can’t get around it in 2017.
- Surprise with original ideas! It’s a good way to tap into anticipation and curiosity.
- Advertise on TV! No other advertising channel can score as highly for Christmas.
- Go with red and green! Those are the colors of success at Christmas time.
Market research tools provide fast consumer insights
Even with the best plans, the weeks until Christmas still carry uncertainties.
Dr. Peter Aschmoneit points out.“The market research tools from quantilope make it possible to gain additional consumer insights on short notice. This allows marketers and retail to follow up on specific aspects of their Christmas campaigns if necessary,”