Last week, leading retail and shopper marketing agency, Savvy, revealed new research on Easter spending plans for UK shoppers. The survey (of 1,000 household shopping decision makers) had indicated that 64 percent will celebrate the event and that they’ll see a spending increase of 6.5 percent on 2018 figures – to £877m.
Alastair Lockhart, Insight Director at Savvy Marketing, said: “Easter fell late this year, giving shoppers extra time to prepare for the holiday weekend. This combined with better online inspiration and retailers’ scaling up investment in the event boosted Easter spending by 6.5 percent to reach £877m. Easter Eggs accounted for £188m in sales, reflecting a continuation of the trend to more premium eggs that we’ve seen over recent years. That said, many of us were also on the lookout for bargains. 70 percent of Easter shoppers told us they knew where they could find the best value eggs this year and almost half of shoppers were headed to a discounter to shop for food and Easter eggs.”
Key research findings from the shoppers who celebrate Easter (64 percent of UK shoppers):
- Attitudes towards the event:
- Fewer men were involved in celebrating Easter than women – 60 compared with 67 percent respectively.
- Shoppers in the midlands were the least likely to get involved in marking the occasion – 62 percent. Those residing in the South East were most likely to get involved – 68 percent.
- 75 percent of Easter shoppers looked forward to the event and 73 percent say that they looked forward to spending time with their families at Easter. 74 percent also viewed it as a special occasion.
- How did shoppers who were planning to celebrate Easter, spend?
- 37 percent spent more on Easter goods this year.
- 70 percent said they knew where they could find the best value eggs.
- 57 percent said they didn’t mind spending more to make the Easter weekend special.
- Planning in advance what they’d be buying for Easter weekend appealed to 56 percent of shoppers – though 16 percent admitted that they left things to the last minute.
- 49 percent headed to the discounters for eggs and dinner ingredients.
- Trading up to purchase more expensive food and drinks for the Easter weekend was on the cards for 44 percent of shoppers.
- Buying personalised gifts for Easter was of interest to 39 percent of shoppers.
- 32 percent went away at Easter this year.
- Changes afoot with younger shoppers?
- Shoppers aged 18-34 were less likely to buy Easter Eggs than other age groups, but were most likely to purchase chocolate or Easter cake. Likewise, where many shoppers looked to buy ingredients for a roast dinner, this age group were more interested in a different meal.
- Younger shoppers looked forward to Easter (84 percent) and most likely went away for the occasion (66 percent).
- Young shoppers were also seeking out inspiration for ideas from social media than any other age group.
- What were Easter shoppers planning on buying?
- Easter eggs topped the list – with 79 percent of Easter shoppers making purchases.
- In second place (31 percent) was chocolate and in third place (26 percent) was the ingredients for a roast dinner. An Easter cake was to be purchased by 23 percent of shoppers.
- In terms of drinks, 23 percent said they would purchase wine to mark the special occasion and 19 percent said they would be buying soft drinks. Beer (13 percent), spirits (11 percent) and champagne/sparkling wine (10 percent) were also on shoppers lists.
- Outside of food purchases, 19 percent of shoppers said they would look for Easter cards and 12 percent would be purchasing cuddly toys. Games, such as egg hunts at home, baking kits and making kits e.g. bonnets and bunting also featured on shoppers lists although less frequently.
- Just eight percent said they wouldn’t be buying any products to celebrate the occasion.
- What did Easter shoppers expect from retailers?
- Topping the wish lists this Easter with 46 percent, was instore food sampling.
- Instore egg hunts tied with new ideas to try (recipes etc) to take second place – both with 30 percent of shoppers excited seeing this. This was of particularly interested by those aged 18-34 – twice as many as any other age group (44 percent).
- A chance to have a selfie with an Easter bunny instore got the vote from 23 percent of shoppers.
- 19 percent of shoppers said they liked some inspiration on things to do with the kids closely followed by badges and stickers for children instore (18 percent).
- Online games and competitions was of interest to 17 percent of shoppers.
- Where were Easter shoppers looking for inspiration this year?
- Supermarkets were the most listed place for ideas – with 55 percent of shoppers hunting for inspiration here. In second place with 22 percent, was Google. Facebook came in third place – 20 percent.
- A grocery retailer’s website and Pinterest was the go-to place for 18 percent of shoppers and word of mouth (e.g. friends and family) was how 15 percent were getting ideas.
