Christmas shopping on the bustling high street, when the shops are adorned with festive decorations, is something most of us enjoy. If you’re one of the millions of people across the UK who are planning on heading for the shopping mall to buy your gifts, it has to be an all-round enjoyable experience.
Luring shoppers away from online stores is a challenge. Buying Christmas gifts at e-commerce stores is convenient if you’re pushed for time – but can it ever match the festive atmosphere of the high street?
Christmas shopping plans
A recent survey by Shopblocks revealed 30% of UK shoppers planned on purchasing solely at bricks and mortar stores this Christmas. They recognise the fact that a web page can never be as helpful as a sales assistant! People who shop on the high street can enjoy the personal service that stores offer.
It also appears UK consumers aren’t letting the ongoing economic uncertainty of Brexit dampen their Christmas spirits. A consumer survey by Bobatoo revealed 25% of respondents planned on spending between £300 and £500 on presents, with some planning on splashing out more than £700!
There was a 48% rise in the number of shoppers who planned to spend more than £400 on festive food, drinks and decorations. This suggests many of us are throwing caution to the wind this Christmas and having a major blow-out to combat the feelings of doom and gloom in the general economy.
Children’s presents
People with children are planning to spend on average between £150 and £200 per child. The high street has been crowned the winner when it comes to people’s shopping plans, with Amazon coming second and other sites including Ebay lagging behind.
This is in contrast to Black Friday, when analysts said two-thirds of UK shoppers were spending their cash solely online, rather than in high street stores, in a £3 billion shopping spree. There’s something about Christmas that makes us flock to the shops!
Maybe it’s the chance to turn a shopping trip into a day out, stopping for coffee, mulled wine and mince pies with friends. Maybe it’s the Santa’s grotto for the kids in the major stores, the Christmas markets and the on-street food vendors. Nothing can beat soaking up the festive atmosphere of the high street.
Similarly, people are looking forward to the January sales – and if consumer spending in 2019 is anything to go by, retailers are in for a post-Christmas boom too. Year-on-year spending in January 2019 was up by 4.2% – the biggest rise since 2016.
Comfortable temperature
When the shops are packed, it can get extremely stuffy indoors, despite it being so cold outside. Air conditioning can help make a shopper feel comfortable – meaning more sales!
While no-one wants to shop in winter in the chilled air that many stores provide in July, browsing, queuing and purchasing in a pleasant environment is something everyone enjoys, whatever the time of year. In-store AC systems make sure the air quality is consistently good.
Air pollution occurs indoors as well as outside, at all times of the year. Providing customers with a consistent, pleasant, indoor environment for Christmas shopping will encourage them to stay longer. Bearing in mind that shoppers will be coming inside wearing winter coats, scarves and hats, they don’t want to walk into an oven!
Keeping the air quality fresh is an important part of the complete retail experience. It can mean the difference between shoppers browsing for longer and spending more, and people walking out after a few minutes because they’re too hot and the air feels stifling and stale.
Do yourself a favour and make sure you have a quality air conditioning system in your store. Keep it properly maintained all year round to give yourself an advantage when it comes to retaining shoppers. Contact Gree UK for details of our air conditioning solutions for the retail sector.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas!
