Retailers who run pre-Christmas or January sales need to be careful they are not alienating shoppers or training consumers to only buy when things are on offer.

Lightspeed Research surveyed 1000 people to understand how retailers’ selling tactics in the lead up to, and immediately after, Christmas 2011 are viewed by consumers.

Crucially, more than half (56%) of consumers have a negative response to pre-Christmas sales, from feeling cheated, to stupid, to angry. Notably, the ‘angry’ 16% said they were less likely to use the offending retailer again as a result.

Almost exactly half (49%) of those respondents who were annoyed about seeing items they had already bought as gifts reduced in the Christmas sales were angry enough to take action:

• 12% asked for a refund and bought the item at the sale price;


• 11% had the retailer refund the difference;


• 8% got a refund and shopped elsewhere.

Three-quarters of those surveyed had bought most of their gifts by mid-December, with 15% waiting until two weeks before Christmas and 9% until the Christmas week to hit the stores. The remaining 1% left their shopping until Christmas Eve. 4% of 25-34 year olds and 2% of men fall into this ‘seat of pants’ category.

For Christmas 2011, bargain hunting was certainly an important consideration, with more than half (51%) of respondents admitting to ‘always’ looking for a bargain when shopping for gifts, a third (33%) ‘sometimes’ and only 4% ‘never’ seeking out an offer.

18% of respondents waited until the pre-Christmas sales to do at least some of their gift shopping in 2011, rising to almost a quarter of 24-44 year olds. 37% of them bought Christmas gifts in the sales, 23% bought items for themselves or their home, and a super-organised 8% bought gifts for Christmas 2012.

One in five – 21% – of all respondents asked for money instead of gifts for Christmas 2011 (rising to 40% of 18-24 year olds) in order to buy what they wanted in the sales. However, this figure is set to rise by up to ten percentage points to 31 for Christmas 2012. Half of 18-24 year olds surveyed already plan to ask for money or vouchers this year.

Nearly half – 42% – said that that the pre- and post-Christmas sales have changed their approach to gift buying for Christmas 2012, with 15% much less likely to pay full price for gifts, 13% starting shopping closer to Christmas to take advantage of the sales and 8% only buying things on sale.

Ralph Risk, marketing director for Europe for Lightspeed Research, says: “Our research seems to suggest that the tactics employed by some retailers to get shoppers to part with their cash at this crucial trading time may have stored up problems for the future. With the proliferation of daily deal schemes, pre-Christmas sales and other on-going promotions, consumers are getting used to not paying full price for items. Aggressive discounting may have an ongoing impact on brand and value perceptions, meaning retailers find it more difficult to charge full price for items and, in the long term, may even erode their brand value.”

Risk adds: “The vast majority of people in our research had done their shopping by mid-December, and with these people making up 75% of the respondents, appealing to a minority by offering them discounts at the expense of upsetting the majority may cause more people to change their shopping habits, and their retailer loyalties, in 2012.”