December 12th, 2023, Shinmin Bali
When it comes to executing a marketing strategy, understanding why your competitors’ customers are choosing them over you can be just as valuable as knowing your own brand’s strengths. Competitive analysis can help marketers understand exactly how satisfied customers of a rival brand are, as well as what they perceive as its shortcomings, allowing you to position your brand or product in the right place to take advantage.
Using its ‘Customers of’ targeting capabilities, YouGov Self-serve - our fully self-serviced research platform - allows marketers to quickly, easily and cheaply survey their competitors’ customers – and ask them (within reason) whatever they want. In just a few clicks, you can target an audience of your choice, selecting from customers of one (or more) of 1,500 brands in UK or 2,200 brands in US, and then create your custom poll using our easy survey builder. Within 24 hours, you could have the answers that make the difference between failure and success for your upcoming product launch, brand campaign or crisis management strategy.
Armed with a list of gifts to purchase, consumers in the US may be thinking about which financing option suits their budget the most as Christmas approaches. In a recent survey conducted using YouGov Surveys: Self-Serve, we asked Americans (aged 55 years and under) who shop at high street fashion chains how they plan to finance their Christmas gift shopping this year.
A clear majority of this group (68%) say they plan to use credit cards to shop for gifts.
Over half of those polled (55%) would opt for cash – the second most preferred option as per our survey. Only two in ten (20%) say they plan to dip into their savings to buy gifts this year.
This is followed by one in ten (10%) saying they’d prefer using the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) financing option brands provide. Remember that BNPL as a payment option had gathered a lot of steam amid the pandemic. Since then, BNPL has been able to build momentum with 8% of Americans saying they use it as a credit financing option for online purchases in 2023, up from 4% in 2021.
Finally, a small proportion of the respondents (2%) say they aren’t sure which payment mode they’d eventually go with. Just one percent of those surveyed say they would opt for a personal loan instead.
Having planned for how they would pay for gifts, how many Americans actually look forward to the experience of buying presents?
Enough do, but certainly not a majority. Interestingly, when asked what people look forward to at Christmas, 72% say they enjoy giving presents but only 37% say they look forward to going shopping for them. There is perhaps room for retailers to find areas to make the gift-shopping experience more convenient, easier, quicker or more affordable for shoppers.
A majority, 86% of those surveyed, say they look forward to spending time with family and friends. The actual Christmas dinner is right up there too, with 66% saying that’s what they look forward to.
Celebrating religious beliefs comes in at 33% and 49% of those surveyed chose receiving presents as one of the things they look forward to on Christmas.
Also read: The mental toll of holiday shopping: What’s stressing out US consumers ahead of Christmas 2023
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Methodology: YouGov polled 476 US adults aged under 55 years who shop at high street fashion chains. The survey was conducted in December 2023 and carried out through YouGov Surveys: Self-serve. Data is weighted by age, gender, race, political affiliation, education level and region. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Self-serve.
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