SCOTTISH Christmas shoppers are buying their gifts online then picking them up from collection points in greater numbers than ever before. More than two in five of customers surveyed by research agency Shoppercentric said they planned to use click and collect services over the festive season. That’s notably higher than in the whole of the UK, where the figure is just 30%.
The survey also found that consumers were pessimistic about the economic recovery and planned to shop around, online and in stores, to find the best prices. Only 9% said they planned to spend more this Christmas than last year. Some 5% of the shoppers surveyed planned to use c-stores for Christmas shopping.
“The rise in popularity of click and collect will help to drive more shoppers in store and presents retailers with a huge opportunity to really lay on the ambience, and roll out the tempting displays to play to their strengths and encourage incremental purchasing,” said a Shoppercentric spokesperson.
“If they could tempt each of those customers to pick up just one extra item in addition to their parcel collection, retailers will be able to deliver a seriously big uplift in sales.”
