Buying habits, ad spend, Christmas: 5 interesting stats to start your week

Just 8% of companies feature disabled people in their marketing

Just 8% of companies regularly include people with disabilities in their marketing and communications. This despite the fact that 88% of businesses claim disability inclusion is important to their business strategy.

Some 35% of companies are now more aware of the needs of people with disabilities and are accelerating their actions and commitments. But 15% admit to having to shelve efforts due to the immediate challenges of Covid-19.

Overall, 15% of people are living with some form of disability. This rises to 53% when the families of those with disabilities are taken into account.

Source: The Valuable 500

Consumers say brands’ handling of the pandemic will impact their buying habits

Almost eight in 10 (79%) of people say they are more likely to buy from brands that have behaved well during the coronavirus crisis.

The most important behaviour is clear and frequent communication, cited by 75% of consumers, followed by introducing safety measures on 62%.

Some 80%, meanwhile, also they are less likely to purchase products or services from companies they feel have been insensitive or taken advantage of the situation. More than a third (35%) say they have paid more attention than usual to how companies have behaved, with 45% saying they feel too many brands have tried to take advantage of the situation via their advertising.

Source: IAB UK

Consumers spending less and saving more

Consumers are spending less and saving more as the cost of the coronavirus pandemic to the UK economy becomes clearer.

Major purchase intent came in at -26 in July, drastically below the score of four in the same month last year, although it is an improvement on the score of -32 in June. The savings index, meanwhile, was up five points month over month to 21, although this was slightly behind July 2019 when it measured 25.

Consumers are starting to feel more optimistic about their own financial situation, with the score for the next 12 months up four points to zero compared with June. Thinking about the past 12 months, consumers raised their score by five points to -4.

However, perceptions for the economy as a whole show little sign of improvement. Views on the general economic situation over the past 12 months fell two points to -61 and remain well down on where they were a year ago when they measured -32.

Feelings about the general economic situation over the next 12 months are up slightly from -48 to -41 month over month, although still down on the -32 measured in July 2019.

There has been little to boost consumers’ feelings about the economy as job losses mount and the end of the furlough scheme nears. However, overall consumer confidence is starting to recover from the nadir of -34 in April and May – rising three points to -27 compared with June.

Source: GfK

Global ad spend to fall by 9.1% as Covid-19 accelerates shift to digital

Global ad spend is expected to fall by 9.1% in 2020, although a 5.8% recovery is forecast for 2021. To put this into context, ad spend shrank by 9.5% during the 2009 recession.

While the pandemic has put the breaks on spending in general, the crisis has accelerated a wider shift to online. Digital advertising will increase to 51% of global spend in 2020 and 55% in 2022.

In fact, digital ad spend is forecast to shrink by just 2% during 2020 and there is no expectation any of this share will return to traditional media as the crisis eases.

Source: Zenith

Consumers plan to still spend on Christmas

More than 70% of Christmas shoppers do not plan to decrease spend in 2020, compared to last year.

Despite 40% of global Christmas shoppers citing a decrease in household income due to Covid-19, 87% of people will still be shopping for holidays such as Christmas and 57% plan to purchase during key shopping peaks like Black Friday.

In the UK, 42% of shoppers look set to spend the same amount as last year on their holiday purchases with, 27% looking to increase their spend on people in their immediate family.

Source: Rakuten Advertising