Black Friday or Cyber Monday? Young shoppers prefer ‘Crimbo Limbo‘ says Snapchat

Forget Black Friday, the post-Thanksgiving sales bonanza where retailers claim to offer up pre-Xmas bargains.

The real retail sales opportunity is in ‘Christmas Limbo’, between 25 December and 31 December, when Gen Z and Millennials are out in force and have money to spend.

That’s the finding of Snapchat’s latest digital retail insight, which asked market research company CensusWide to survey over 2000 adults about their shopping habits, digital and in-store, over Christmas.

An overwhelming majority (84%) said they shop the same or more between Christmas and New Year than during other peak retail periods, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the January sales.

The biggest shoppers at this time of year are Gen Z and Millennials, with 72% of Gen Z and 70% of Millennials spending more time on this activity over Christmas than at other times.

When asked why, one reason stated is that it makes them happy — with a quarter of people (25%) saying shopping and holiday sales make them happy during this period, rising to 36% amongst Millennials—the highest of any generation.

AR try-ons

Consumers are shopping online and in-store, with 47% of Gen Z and 42% of Millennials more likely to shop online for their post-Christmas purchases.

Almost half if all shoppers turn to digital platforms during this time, the study revealed, with Gen Z (63%) and Millennials (59%) embracing features like AR try-ons to enhance their shopping experience.

In terms of what they are looking for, 48% cited post-Christmas bargains, and 25% say they have more money to spend after getting cash gifts.

Special promotions top the list of motivating factors for shoppers of all ages, with Gen X (53%) more influenced by sales or discounts than Gen Z (45%).

Snapchat’s UK general manager Bridget Lea said: “Brands can often forget that important downtime post-Christmas when people are still very much in a spending mindset — and with Christmas shopping out of the way, they often have more time and are online looking to treat themselves.”

“Gen Z and Millennial shoppers hold over $4.4 trillion in spending power globally, so with more of them shopping on digital platforms after Christmas, the Crimbo Limbo period should be considered an integral peak opportunity for advertisers to reach consumers.”

The research was conducted by market research outfit CensusWide, which asked 2,001 nationally representative UK consumers aged over 16 from a nationally representative sample of UK adults.

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