September 1st, 2023, Lesley Simeon
A recent YouGov survey polled consumers across 18 countries about which products they would prefer buying offline than online. In this piece, we focus on whether consumers prefer buying clothes and books offline.
To begin with, let’s briefly look at the survey results and discuss the other categories of products global consumers most prefer buying offline than online.
Groceries lead the list, with more than six in ten (64%) global consumers saying they would prefer buying groceries from a physical establishment as opposed to online. The number is up four percentage points from 60% in 2022.
Clothes (54%), vehicles (53%), medicines (48%) and electronics/tech products (32%) round out the top five categories of products that consumers would prefer buying offline.
Video games find a spot right at the bottom of the list, with one in ten global consumers saying they would prefer buying this product offline.
We now zoom into clothes and books to see which channel consumers across markets prefer buying them through.
Mexico, Australia and Canada have the highest share of consumers who prefer purchasing clothes offline
Among all markets surveyed, Mexico (63%), Australia (61%) and Canada (61%) report the highest share of respondents who say they prefer shopping for clothes offline in 2023.
Back in 2022, a little over half (51%) of the consumers in the US claimed to prefer buying clothes offline. In 2023, this number has dipped slightly to 49%. Data from Great Britain has remained the same across both years (56% in both 2022 and 2023).
In Asia, Hong Kong leads the chart with slightly fewer than six in ten consumers (59%) saying they prefer buying clothes offline in 2023. The number is lower than the 61% figure reported in 2022.
India follows at a close second with 58% of consumers saying they prefer purchasing clothes through offline channels. Singapore reported a significant increase in its proportion of consumers who prefer shopping for clothes offline - from 49% in 2022 to 55% in 2023.
Shifting our focus to Europe, the numbers paint a mixed picture. For instance, markets such as Germany and France reported an increase. In France, 53% of consumers say they prefer buying clothes offline, up from 51% in 2022. In Germany, the numbers have climbed from 38% in 2022 to 42% 2023.
But in Italy, the proportion of consumers who prefer shopping for clothes offline has dipped from 58% in 2022 to 56% in 2023, whereas in Spain and Poland, numbers have remained more or less the same across both years.
Compared to other markets, UAE and Germany record most growth in proportion of its consumers who prefer buying books offline
When it comes to consumers’ book-buying preferences by country, nearly four in ten consumers in India (38%) say they prefer buying books offline, accounting for the largest share of respondents globally who say so. Spain ranks second at 31%.
Looking at Europe, the numbers across markets have remained mostly unchanged except for Germany. Here, close to two in ten (18%) consumers said they prefer buying books offline in 2022. The number for 2023 stands seven percentage points higher at more than two in ten (25%) consumers.
Like Germany, the proportion of consumers in UAE who prefer buying books offline also grew considerably since 2022, from a little over two in ten consumers (21%) in 2022 to nearly three in ten consumers (28%) in 2023. These two markets have seen the largest growth in numbers, compared to other markets, when it comes to consumers who prefer buying books offline.
At less than two in ten consumers (18%), Poland registered the smallest proportion of consumers in Europe (and globally) who prefer purchasing books offline in 2023.
Numbers in the US have remained unchanged at 20%, while less than three in ten consumers (27%) in Great Britain prefer buying books at offline establishments.
Ending with Asia, three in ten consumers (30%) in Hong Kong say they prefer buying books offline, followed by Indonesia and Singapore (19% each).
Explore our living data - for free
Discover more retail content here
Want to run your own research? Run a survey now
Make smarter business decisions with better intelligence. Understand exactly what your audience is thinking by leveraging our panel of 20 million+ members. Speak with us today.
Methodology:
YouGov Surveys: Serviced provides quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 437 and 2045 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in July 2022 and June 2023. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.