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6 July 2006
Australia
One-third of Australians say they never go shopping for ‘something to do’ and 12 percent actually loathe shopping for clothes, an international consumer survey by leading marketing information company ACNielsen has found.
These and other findings were released today as part of ACNielsen’s latest Global Online Consumer Confidence and Sentiment survey which polled over 23,500 people in 42 countries – including more than 500 Australians – on their attitudes towards shopping as a pastime.
According to the ACNielsen survey, Australia was the least likely nation in the Asia Pacific region and one of the least likely globally to go shopping for entertainment, with 32 percent of Aussies saying they never go shopping for something to do compared to just 16 percent around the Asia Pacific region and 26 percent of consumers globally. Only 16 percent of Australians said they were likely to go shopping for entertainment more than once a week, compared to 24 percent regionally (see Chart 1).
Asked to indicate their attitudes towards clothes and grocery shopping, 12 percent of Australians said they loathed clothes shopping and six percent loathed doing the groceries. Clothes shopping was seen as a necessary chore by more than half of Australians (52%), while almost three quarters (73%) saw grocery shopping as a necessary chore.
“There is a huge opportunity for Australian retailers to change the mindset and, ultimately, the shopping experience for consumers,” said Neil Sangster, Associate Director, Shopper Insights, ACNielsen. “ACNielsen’s survey results from other parts of the world prove that shopping can be an appealing experience and Australian retailers need to understand the changing needs and motivations of their customers as well as identify the drivers of a unique store experience.”
Looking at the variations between genders in Australia, men’s and women’s attitudes towards shopping were surprisingly similar, although women were somewhat more likely to see shopping as a form of entertainment – 27 percent of women said they never went shopping for something to do compared to well over one third (37%) of men. Almost one in five Australian women (19%) said they shopped for entertainment once or twice a week or more compared to 13 percent of men.
In terms of the difference in men’s and women’s attitudes towards clothes shopping compared to shopping for groceries, Australian men regarded both outings fairly similarly, while Australian women were more likely to enjoy clothes shopping over doing the groceries – 36 percent of women said they found clothes shopping therapeutic compared to just 14 percent of men.
Asians the world’s greatest shopperholics
In contrast to their Australian counterparts, Asian consumers made up seven of the top 10 nations who shop once a week simply to amuse themselves. Hong Kongers, Thais and Singaporeans ranked highest in the world for shopping twice a week or more for ‘entertainment’ – no surprise then that these cities have embraced retail therapy as part of their culture, even promoting it as a tourism attraction.
In other regions, 25 percent of consumers in Russia and emerging markets described clothes shopping as therapeutic while, in contrast, 55 percent of North Americans said it was a necessary chore. Only one European country made it into the global top ten ranking for clothes shopping being the favourite thing to do – it was the trend setting Italians who led the fashion shopping pack in this region.
Chart 1: Frequency of shopping for ‘something to do’ (Asia Pacific region)
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