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December 11 2007
High Street hit by online discounts
Christmas discount voucher schemes are playing a major role in consumers shopping plans as savvy shoppers move online in a year where Internet activity has doubled.
Customers are turning to the internet – and specifically discount websites for everything from perfume purchases, to the latest HDTV and the festive Turkey.
New figures from one of the country’s leading online discount voucher websites says that Britons have been bitten by the discount bug.
The past few weeks has seen shopping via online discount schemes take off and become mainstream.
A survey by sendmediscounts.co.uk shows that nine out of every ten online shoppers were planning to use discount vouchers to get the best price for their purchases.
sendmediscounts.co.uk also found a similar number would be more likely to shop at outlets which had a discount programme.
Vouchers can be found on specialist websites which allow visitors to get a unique code which they can then use to buy a range of products from online retailers at discounted rates.
The survey found that 97% intended to do a ‘substantial proportion’ of their Christmas shopping online.
“This is encouraging news for us,” says Nick Beeny, Managing Director of sendmediscounts.co.uk. “The surge in popularity for discount schemes shows two things: Firstly that discount shopping is no longer something people only resort to when they feel strapped for cash; and secondly that people begin their search for the best deals available by going online.”
The survey also found that 94%t of people who shop for online discount vouchers would do more shopping this way if they could print out the voucher and use it on the high street.
“This is a clear indication that the extra value you can get from online shopping – where the ‘middleman’ is cut out - is causing consumers to expect better deals on the high street,” says Beeny.
“The high street needs to wake up to this challenge. The online retail market is forcing shops to become more competitive.”
There has been a steady growth in the number of people who actively search out discount voucher sites when looking for an online bargain. However, in the run up to Christmas that interest has rocketed, daily visitors to sendmediscounts.co.uk doubled from the last week of November.
When shoppers were asked ‘How much online shopping will you be doing this year?’ Two out of every five (41%) said ‘most of it.’ Even more staggering; more than half (53%) said they would be using online retailers to find ‘some’ of their Christmas bargains.
“There are many reasons for this,” says Beeny. A lot of people are turning to the internet and to discount shopping this Christmas because they are worried about the pound in their pocket. News of a credit crunch and falling house process has got many people worried. They are even more determined to look for the best bargains without dropping the quality of their Christmas.”
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