Wirecard International Holiday Shopping Report 2018 / Combination of digital and physical channels is key for consumers globally

Aschheim (Munich) (ots) -

- The report reveals exclusive insights about omnichannel shopping
behavior, mobile payments as the key tech trend for consumers
globally and peak days like Black Friday
- Key finding: The vast majority (82%) of consumers uses multiple
sales channels during the purchasing process and prefers to shop
online or mobile (68%)
- Price, special offers and product quality are the main factors
influencing the purchasing decision

Wirecard, the global innovation leader in digital financial
technology, today presented the findings of the Wirecard
International Holiday Shopping Report 2018. Over 3,000 consumers were
surveyed about their shopping habits and preferences during the end
of year holiday season and beyond. The results show a clear
preference for digital shopping channels in combination with physical
ones in order to benefit from fast availabilities online, compare
prices and have a real experience in-store.

Markus Eichinger, Executive Vice President Group Strategy at
Wirecard, said, "Today's consumers are willing and able to shop
around and compare offers before buying and are also open to trying
new brands if they meet their needs. The Wirecard International
Holiday Shopping Report 2018 clearly shows that merchants have to
provide true shopping experiences via digital and physical channels
in order to meet their customers wherever they decide to make a
purchase, whether that be via an e-commerce site, a mobile app or
in-store. We at Wirecard identified this trend early on and today
drive forward and enable channel convergence within the framework of
our digital commerce platform."

Key findings:

- Black Friday is the single most significant shopping "event"
internationally 39% of respondents globally say they plan to shop on
Black Friday. In Brazil, the percentage of Black Friday shoppers is
the highest (67%), followed by U.K. (40%), Germany (40%) and the U.S.
(38%). Hong Kong was the only country not to have Black Friday in
first position, consumers here prefer to take advantage of Boxing Day
sales (33%), which is very common in some Asian markets and South
Africa.

- The holiday shopping season is a popular time to try new shops
and items This is a popular time for consumers to try out new stores
or websites with over three quarters (77%) of respondents globally
saying they would be likely or very likely to do so. In all countries
surveyed, respondents said they spent the most money on clothing and
accessories (58%), electronics (56%) and toys and games (38%).

- Consumers consider mobile payments the top shopping-related
technology trend Globally, consumers would most like to see mobile
payment solutions implemented to improve their buying experience
(46%). This was followed by virtual or augmented reality (26%) and
artificial intelligence / machine learning (22%). In Brazil, shopping
via voice recognition is highly regarded as well (30%).

- The vast majority shops digital Over two thirds (68%) of
consumers globally expect to make their purchases during the holiday
season digitally either via a desktop site, mobile app, or mobile
site. Overall, 18% plan to shop in traditional stores, with 22% of
U.S. respondents planning to shop in a physical outlet, but only 8%
of German consumers intend to do so.

- Consumers look for a true experience in-store In all countries,
the most important factor which would influence a consumer's decision
to shop in-store is price (59%), followed by quality of products
(45%) and special offers or discounts (32%). The same three factors
are the most influential when it comes to choosing to buy online. In
the U.S., being able to see, test or try items before purchase was
considered more important than in the other countries; in Brazil
customer service on-site counts.

- Omnichannel is key for consumers globally An enormous 82% of
consumers globally said they were either likely or very likely to
combine various channels during the purchasing process - with
Malaysia proving particularly fond of cross-channel shopping (96%),
followed by Brazil (92%). The overall reason for using a range of
channels was to compare prices with over half of consumers (51%)
stating this as their top answer.

Merchants can profit from the Wirecard platform, which allows them
to easily combine their distribution channels and meet the needs of
today's consumers. Wirecard offers a constantly expanding ecosystem
of real-time value added services built around innovative digital
payments.

For more information on the Wirecard International Holiday
Shopping Survey, please click here
https://wirecard.com/international-shopping-report/#home

The Wirecard International Holiday Shopping Report 2018 is based
on the results of an independent survey carried out by Wirecard in
October and November 2018. A total of 3,193 consumers over the age of
18 in select countries like Brazil, Germany, Hong Kong, Malaysia,
Singapore, the U.K. and the U.S. provided answers. Further
information about the survey findings can be found in the full report
https://wirecard.com/international-shopping-report/#contact

About Wirecard:

Wirecard (GER:WDI) is one of the world's fastest growing digital
platforms in the area of financial commerce. We provide both business
customers and consumers with a constantly expanding ecosystem of
real-time value-added services built around innovative digital
payments by using an integrated B2B2C approach. This ecosystem
concentrates on the areas payment & risk, retail & transaction
banking, loyalty & couponing, data analytics & conversion rate
enhancement in all sales channels (online, mobile, ePOS). Wirecard
operates regulated financial institutions in several key markets,
holds issuing and acquiring licenses from all major payment and card
networks. Wirecard AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (DAX
and TecDAX, ISIN DE0007472060). Visit us on www.wirecard.com, follow
us on Twitter @wirecard and on Facebook @wirecardgroup.

Wirecard media contact:
Wirecard AG
Jana Tilz
Tel.: +49 (0) 89 4424 1363
Email: jana.tilz@wirecard.com

Original-Content von: Wirecard AG, übermittelt durch news aktuell