UK shopping habits are undergoing a period of rapid change new study, with 99% of people visiting at least one shopping centre scheme in the last 12 months and more than two-thirds “using discount vouchers more often”, according to a new study by research consultants Latimer Appleby.
The study also examined shopper attitudes and perceptions and the strongest agreement was for: “I’m more careful with my money”. More than eight out of 10 agreed, to some extent, with this statement. The next strongest level of agreement was with the statement: “I look out for bargains more often”, which was true for 75% of all respondents.
28% agreed strongly that they were: “buying more on the internet”, with a further 30% agreeing to some extent.
The statement: “I’m spending less money” prompted agreement from 58%, with only 13% disagreeing, and, consistently, the same number were generally shopping less often.
In terms of visit frequency to shopping centres, 24% had visited a centre in the previous week, with a further 20% in the previous fortnight. Proportionately more under 25s and more over 55s visited a centre in the last seven days.
Three-quarters visited three or fewer shopping centres in the last 12 months, and less than 10% had visited more than five different schemes.
Director Paul Latimer said: “We looked at how the UK’s shopping habits had changed over the last 12 months. We found that for each of the different retail formats, between one half and two-thirds felt that their behaviour had, in fact, been consistent. However, the most significant change was the increased use of the internet (52% of all respondents were doing so ‘more often’) and only 5% ‘less often’, giving a net difference of +47.”
