July 15th, 2022, Hoang Nguyen
There are many popular celebrations in different markets and these seasonal events provide a unique opportunity for retailers and FMCG brands to build brand awareness, engage with consumers and increase sales and revenue.
A new study from YouGov, The path to purchase for global seasonal events, measures the market potential for seasonal events such as Christmas, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, summer holidays/vacations, Easter and Back-to-School across 18 global markets.
The report combines syndicated YouGov data from Profiles (an audience intelligence tool) and BrandIndex (a brand health tracker) with deep-dive custom research from Realtime Omnibus to help marketers understand consumer intent and provide insights into shopping trends and patterns.
Top seasonal events around the world
We polled more than 19,000 global consumers to help brands and retailers plan for important shopping events. Globally, traditional holidays dominate the shopping season by a wide margin, with about three in five (57%) global consumers indicating they shopped for Christmas (incorporating Thanksgiving in the US and Canada) in the last 12 months.
Mother’s Day or Father’s Day (26%; grouped together) are the second most popular seasonal shopping events. These celebrations of family have become big opportunities for FMCG brands, high street brands and digital retailers alike.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday comes in a close third, with a quarter (25%) of all global consumers shopping for products and services during the sales days. The busy summer holiday season (20%) is another big occasion for retailers, followed by Easter/Spring Break (17%), the Back-to-School season (15%) and Amazon Prime Day (15%). Halloween (13%) and Singles’ Day (6%) round our list of holiday marketing tentpoles.
Did you know that 58% of all global shoppers increased their expenditure for annual seasonal events over the last 12 months compared to their average monthly spend throughout the year? Download YouGov’s new CPG/retail report to learn more about spending during seasonal events.
Market variations for engagement with seasonal events
YouGov looked at the top three ranked countries for shopping for each seasonal event and found great diversity in terms of engagement and shopping patterns.
The European market tends to dominate Christmas shopping, with three quarters of consumers in Great Britain (76%), Spain (74%) and Poland (73%) say they shopped for the seasonal event.
Consumers in Spain (41%), Italy (40%) and Singapore (32%) are some of the most avid shoppers during Cyber Week, which includes Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
And as retailers prepare for the approaching Back-to-School season, it may be helpful to know that consumers in China (29%), Mexico (28%), and France (22%) led engagement with the shopping tentpole over the last 12 months.
Download the full report to uncover further global and market-level insights such as:
- The sources consumers use to inspire their buying decisions
- How they are purchasing for each seasonal event and holiday tentpoles
- What products and services are being purchased and who they are purchasing them for
- How global consumers adjust their spending leading up to each event
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