• 4 in 10 Brits plan to return to shopping in-store when shops reopen on 15 June
• 1 in 3 will only return when certain requirements are met, such as a vaccine or a successful treatment for COVID-19

8 June 2020, LONDON –

Around 1 in 10 of us, equivalent to 5.9 million Brits, will look to avoid shopping on the high street in future as a result of coronavirus according to new research from personal finance comparison website finder.com.

A third of Brits (34%) are willing to return to in-store shopping in the future only when certain requirements are met. For 1 in 10 (11%), this would be a vaccine that prevents infection from COVID-19, while a further 13% will do so when there is a proven treatment for the virus.

Not everyone is planning to stay away from the high street though, as 4 in 10 shoppers (42%) are happy to return as soon as retail stores open with social distancing measures in place on 15 June.

Online shopping has seen a notable rise during lockdown, with recent Finder research showing that the UK’s most popular fashion sites experienced a 75% surge of visitors in April 2020 compared to the same month in 2019.

This has been aided by the large number of shoppers who are using discount codes when they shop. Almost three-quarters (73%) already use them and 2 in 5 (43%) Brits plan to use them more over the next 12 months for their fashion, sport and beauty purchases among other things.

The full paper, “A cut-price culture: Discount codes and shopping behaviour (An analysis of consumer attitudes to codes, and how shopping will evolve in a post-pandemic world)”, includes expert commentary from industry leaders and can be viewed and linked to here.

Commenting on the findings, Georgia-Rose Johnson, shopping specialist at finder.com said:
“It’s understandable that consumers may be reluctant to visit shops in person for the foreseeable future due to fears surrounding the transmission of coronavirus. As well as being safer, online shopping also enables consumers to easily compare discount codes and find the best deal on products, which is even more important to customers during times of uncertainty and financial hardship.

Although reopening is good news for the high street, it could be extremely expensive for retailers. To try and combat the drop in footfall and to compete with online retailers, physical stores will likely need to launch sales and discount products. In addition, amendments to shops will have to be made to meet social-distancing measures which will come at a cost.”

Methodology:
Finder commissioned Onepoll on 22-28 May to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+. A total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout Great Britain, with representative quotas for gender, age and region.
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