The thrill of the store: fashion is key lure globally for returning shoppers

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jun 29, 2021

Fashion is a key attraction for those global shoppers who are returning to stores at present and in the UK, consumers have missed fashion and clothing shops more than any other store types. That’s according to the new Shopper Sentiments: A June 2021 Global Mood Survey of 8,000 international consumers by Mood Media.

Fashion shopping in physical stores is the top priority for 30% of Britons overall and for 43% of UK female consumers, although that’s behind the 59% of French women who say the same. 

UK women are also keen to get back to shopping malls (32%) and mall visits are the biggest priority for British men too (21%). Department stores are also high on the list of locations that consumers have missed and want to return to.

It’s interesting that while the reopening after Lockdown One last year saw the UK being the most cautious out of all the countries surveyed regarding a return to physical stores, it’s now keen to do so. 

Some 80% of UK consumers are confident about shopping in person, a figure echoing shopper confidence around the world.

In fact, only 5% of respondents across the US, UK, China and France reported not feeling ‘comfortable at all’ about returning to stores.

And a majority of consumers surveyed globally (64%) say they expect their shopping habits to be back to pre-pandemic levels by or before the end of 2021, although this figure is only 46% in Britain. 

So what do they like about physical shops? The ability to feel, touch and try products continues to be the number one reason to buy in stores in the UK, rather than online (54%).

And apart from being able to touch and feel the products, they also miss the social aspect of shopping with friends and family (35%).

The ability to feel, touch and try continues to rank as the number one reason to buy in-store vs online worldwide too (at 59%), followed by the instant gratification of taking purchases home (51%) and browsing and discovering new things (45%).

But while physical shopping is appealing after more than a year of lockdowns, consumers have also enjoyed the merging of physical and digital, with a third (33%) of them citing plans to continue using Click and Collect/BOPIS (Buy Online, Pickup In-Store) services beyond the pandemic, with US consumers above the global average at 38%.