In a year that has been plotting its own path, Bryan Scott, Ozone’s marketing lead, takes a look at what might be on the cards for 2020 Christmas celebrations in the UK.
If ever there was a 2020 buzzword to rival ‘unprecedented’, then surely ‘uncertainty’ would be it? However one thing we CAN be certain of is that the Christmas spirit will still jingle its merry way into our lives all through Q4 and up until the big day on the 25th of December. Of course 2020 will likely be a very different kind of Christmas, so we have been investigating what the experts think might happen this year.
The Centre for Retail Research updated its 2020 forecasts for consumer spend earlier in July, expecting a mini-revival boom in post-lockdown spending during Q3, followed by a period of moderation (spending +4.2%) during the highly festive Q4. This notion ties in with experts who have pointed to previous Christmas periods - most notably 2008 and 2009 - as having an element of protection against the impact of a recession.
Our probing has uncovered 12 Trends of a COVID Christmas that we believe will shape the way consumers behave this year. The charts below show these in more detail, but they include everything from the inevitable acceleration of online shopping through to an even greater focus on deals, pre-Christmas sales and discount spending.
In particular, the at-home food and drink sector could see even greater opportunity this year with more consumers trading-up to premium labels or supermarket top-tier lines, as well as an increased shift in spend from out-of-home to take-home food. I for one don’t fancy sitting in a socially distanced pub garden, on a typical British winter’s day, for a festive meal!
The pandemic has had a massive impact on society and will undoubtedly shape our existing Christmas traditions, while also creating some new ones. Some will be enforced - for example, more virtual celebrations or numerous micro-gatherings rather than big parties - while others will evolve to include things like our renewed sense of community spirit and an increase in meaningful gifting - I wouldn’t include novelty festive face masks in that category… best keep the receipt.
At Ozone, reading trends from our publisher data give a very clear indication of when consumers switch into Christmas mode - and we see a rapid scaling of those interested in Christmas content from early October. This trend is replicated across many of the content types you might associate with the festive season, with significant volumes of readers turning to Family-based, Shopping & Gifting and Deal/Bargain related content.
With experts anticipating a buoyant at-home food market over Christmas, combined with a burgeoning need for home-based tech and escapism entertainment, we anticipate that the typical key spending categories will remain relatively consistent in 2020. We see interesting patterns in content consumption aligned to these categories, with areas like Technology and Clothing seeing significant growth in readership particularly through the early Christmas period in October and November. Coinciding with major shopping events such as this year’s Prime Day and Black Friday sales, this is undoubtedly peak time for finalising Christmas wish lists ahead of the final sprint of December spending.
While the last six months have been bizarre, unsettling and unpredictable, for many it is unlikely to dampen the Christmas spirit. As a nation, we certainly need something to look forward to, and the annual visit from the big man in the red suit could just be the boost our collective spirits need. I’ll certainly be raising my upgraded glass of premium bubbles to that!
With our near universal reach of UK adults, Ozone is perfectly placed to reach your Christmas consumers in the most relevant and highly attentive environments. If you’d like to find out more, drop us a line here.
