Understanding the Festive Season 2020

Quantcast surveys 1000 UK consumers to uncover how they feel about Christmas this year, how their spending will differ and which messaging resonates most

2020 is a year of unprecedented change and unpredictability, which presents major challenges for advertisers trying to plan their activity. With one of the biggest spending events of the year coming up, Quantcast set out to understand how the changes are affecting consumer attitudes towards the festive season, and what is most important to consumers this year. 

Quantcast partnered with research specialist Dynata to conduct a study among over 1000 UK consumers, as well as diving into our own first party data, to uncover key trends regarding:

• What relevance Christmas holds for consumers this year

• How their spending will differ from previous years

• Which messaging resonates most this year

Key takeaways:

1. The 2020 festive season presents a big opportunity for advertisers with most consumers planning to spend as much or more than last year

2. The trend towards online shopping will further increase during the Christmas period, and new, older audiences are taking to buying online

3. Whether or not a lockdown will be in place over Christmas will have little impact on spending, however there is an increased interest in offers and promotions

4. Focus will lie on family and connecting with people this Christmas, resulting in increased interest in purchasing things for the home and making the celebration a memorable event

5. Advertisers looking to connect with their audiences should focus their messaging on family values and a sense of community. Although the impact of COVID-19 remains top of mind for consumers, the topic should only be featured indirectly