Unveiling the Power of AI: Key Insights on Christmas Priorities & Consumer Confidence
Get the insights you need to conquer the week ahead Discover top priorities for Christmas shoppers, the power of generative AI for marketers, recovering consumer confidence, changing ad preferences, and the misalignment challenge between marketing and sales teams
Value for money will be top priority for Christmas gift shoppers
51% of UK shoppers prioritize value for money when searching for Christmas presents this festive season. The cost of living crisis persists, with 48% of consumers planning to scale down celebrations this year. Additionally, 19% expect Christmas to be more stressful than usual, indicating a similar proportion (20%) who believe Christmas 2023 will also be more challenging, showcasing the lasting effects of the cost of living crisis.
During the upcoming festive season, it appears that shoppers will prioritize thoughtfulness rather than expense when it comes to gifts, with 64% of consumers expressing a preference for thoughtful gifts over expensive ones. Additionally, almost half of consumers (48%) indicate that they invest a significant amount of time in exploring their options before making festive gift purchases.
The findings of this research imply that advertisements may have a substantial impact on the decision-making process. Approximately one-third of consumers (34%) state that they are influenced by ads during the festive season.
Source: Ebay Ads
Most marketers believe generative AI will help them do better work
According to a survey, a staggering 88% of marketing and customer experience leaders are confident that utilizing generative AI will enhance their performance.
Marketers expect remarkable advantages from generative AI, such as facilitating the creation of more (87%) and superior (89%) content. They also perceive it as a valuable tool for enhancing personalized customer experiences (89%) and identifying novel customer journeys (87%).
As part of the research, Adobe also conducted a survey of 2,000 consumers. The findings indicate that consumers aged 18 to 41 (Gen Z and millennials) exhibit the most favorable attitudes towards generative AI. Specifically, 52% of individuals in this age group believe that the technology is currently making a positive impact on their lives.
Among this younger demographic, over 35% express a desire for generative AI to streamline their search process, enabling them to find desired items more efficiently. Additionally, 14% state that they would like companies to utilize this technology to predict their future consumer behavior.
A notable percentage (15%) of younger consumers prioritize the presence of robust guardrails to ensure responsible usage when it comes to generative AI in companies. As for Gen X and older demographics, approximately a quarter of consumers consider the implementation of effective guardrails as the foremost concern for companies venturing into generative AI.
Consumer confidence recovers modestly in August
Consumer confidence recovered slightly in August, but levels remain very low.
Only 16% of consumers have a positive outlook on the UK economy for the next year, while a majority of 55% predict deterioration, resulting in a net confidence of -39. Although there has been a slight improvement of eight points compared to the previous month, the current level still falls significantly below those of 2022 and 2021.
Financial hardships persist among individuals in the UK, as 7.8% of households have been unable to fulfill their housing, bill, loan, or credit card payments in the last month.
The proportion of households reporting missed payments in the last month decreased to 4.5% in August 2021, compared to July's level of 8.6%, although it still remains relatively high. By August 2022, during the height of the cost of living crisis, the proportion of missed payments decreased further to 6.8%. Among respondents who had missed a payment, council tax was the most commonly missed bill (50%), followed by water (46%) and energy bills (42%).
Approximately 56% of households make necessary adjustments to meet their essential expenses. These adjustments might involve reducing spending on essentials, utilizing savings, selling possessions, or resorting to borrowing. Although this figure is slightly lower than the 59% recorded in July, it remains significantly higher than the 40% reported in August 2021.
Source: Which?
TV drops out of marketers’ preferred ad channels
TV Loses Preferred Ad Channel Status but Remains Most Trusted Medium
TV has fallen out of favor as a preferred advertising channel among marketers for the first time, as revealed by a study conducted by Kantar. However, despite this decline in popularity, TV continues to maintain its position as the most trusted medium for advertising.
According to the Media Reactions 2023 report, TV has experienced a significant decline in popularity among marketers, dropping from being the third preferred media channel in 2022 to the twelfth position. Despite this, TV remains the most trusted advertising channel, as revealed by a survey of 900 global senior marketers and 16,000 consumers. However, only a small percentage of marketers (6% net) indicate that they plan to increase their TV spending in 2024. Additionally, TV sponsorship has also lost importance among marketers, falling from the twelfth position last year to the twentieth.
Online video remains the preferred media channel for marketers for the fourth consecutive year, with a net balance of 74% indicating plans to increase media spend on online video in 2024. However, online video does not rank in the top five preferred media channels for consumers.
Sponsored events are highly regarded by both marketers and consumers, ranking as the top advertising channel for consumers and second for marketers. Digital out-of-home also performs well among both groups, being the third preference for marketers and the fifth preference for consumers.
Cinema advertising is the second most popular channel for consumers, despite not making the ranking for marketers.
Source: Kantar
Vast majority of businesses report misalignment between marketing and sales teams
The vast majority (87%) of businesses say they experience alignment issues between sales, marketing and customer success teams.
Despite revenue leaders' almost universal belief (97%) that improved alignment between teams can yield tangible benefits, such as increased revenue and customer satisfaction, the reported misalignment persists. Additionally, the research reveals that a mere 7% of revenue leaders are confident about achieving their revenue targets this year, indicating companies' struggle in meeting their goals.
Source: Hubspot
