International Survey Findings: Continued Upward Trend in Consumers Planning Online Purchases over the November-December Holiday Period, with the U.S. Leading the Way

The Survey Conducted by One Hour Translation Analyzed the Responses of over 6,600 Consumers in 9 Leading Economies: The U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada, Spain, Brazil and Mexico.

Thirty eight percent of consumers surveyed by One Hour Translation, the world’s largest online translation agency, plan to make online purchases during the November-December period, up from 32% in 2017. In the U.S. specifically the increase was from 35% last year to 39% in the 2018 holiday season. The survey found that the trend of online purchases in the U.S. on Black Friday, which this year falls on 23 November 2018^, is slated to further intensify from 15% last year to 18% in 2018 and Cyber Monday on 26 November 2018 has reached the same level of popularity among American consumers.

The results were not uniform and depended on the country as well as the event. Major findings included an across the board rise in plans for online purchases during the period in the U.S. and in Britain and a drop in the popularity of Black Friday in Japan, Germany, France, Spain.

The survey was conducted through Google Consumer Surveys. The question posed was “On which day or days are you planning to do your online shopping this year?”. Respondents were allowed to select more than one shopping event. The number of responses analyzed in the U.S. was 762 and ranged from 667 to 788 in each of the eight other countries Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Spain Canada, Brazil and Mexico.

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Globally, the number of consumers surveyed who plan to make online purchases on Black Friday declined slightly to 17% compared to 18% in 2017; Cyber Monday was unchanged at 6%; Singles’ Day rose one percentage point to 5%; 7% during other shopping events during the two-month period compared to 5% in 2017; 4% on Super Saturday; 7% on Christmas and Boxing Day, both of which were on the survey for the first time. Out of the countries surveyed, Boxing Day, on December 26^th, is celebrated mainly in Britain.

The results for the U.S. point several interesting trends. Cyber Monday, which falls this year on November 26^th, has become as popular as Black Friday, with 18% of those surveyed intending to make purchases, up from 16% in 2017. The largest increase was for plans to purchase on the Chinese holiday Singles’ Day on November 11^th, with a four-fold jump from 1% last year to 4% in 2018. Christmas day and the day after Christmas (December 25^th and 26^th) were included in the survey for the first time and three percent of the participants said they had plans to buy on those dates. The number of respondents planning to make purchases during ‘other shopping events’ during the two months doubled to 6%. There was also a significant drop in the percentage of people surveyed who had no plans for online purchases, falling to 61% compared to 65% in 2017.

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In Britain, plans for online purchases during the period rose to 33% of those surveyed, up from 28% a year earlier. The figure for Black Friday 2018 remained 19% – as in 2017; Cyber Monday saw a rise from 4% to 6% in the online purchases’ intentions, and intentions for Singles’ Day rose from 2% to 4%. Rate of respondents planning online purchases during Super Saturday 2018 were 3%, 4% during Christmas and Boxing Day and the rate of respondents planning online purchases during other shopping events in Britain rose from 4% in 2017 to 6% in 2018.

An opposite trend in regard to Black Friday emerged in Canada, Germany, France and Spain where declines were reported. Canadian rate dropped from 26% in 2017 to 21% in 2018; Spanish rate droppoed from 22% to 15%; in France the rate declined from 21% to 16%; in Germany from 19% to 13%, and in Japan from 10% to 4%. Brazil and Mexico were surveyed for the first time in 2018 and results for Black Friday were 35% and 17% respectively.

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“The results of the survey provide a detailed picture of consumer preferences regarding online purchases over the holiday period and identify interesting trends,” says Yaron Kaufman, CMO and co-founder of OHT. He believes the most significant trends are the overall increase of consumer intentions to carry out online purchases over the holiday period compared to last year and the strengthening of Black Friday’s dominance as ‘king of the shopping events’ in the U.S., alongside its significance in Brazil and Britain, which contrasts with the date’s declining significance in nearly all other markets surveyed.

Kaufman concluded: “If U.S. e-commerce companies want to stop the weakening of Black Friday in Euorpe and Japan, they should direct their marketing efforts towards these teritorries. Among other measures, U.S. companies should consider localizing their websites to the languages of their target countries, since many studies have proven that consumers over the globe preferring making purchases in their own mother tongue.”

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