Read our latest thinking, data analysis and insights on a range of topics including retail performance of online versus offline, trends in the global smartphone market, latest consumer confidence figures and what TV content we’re watching.
October’s data from GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Barometer show a worrying ongoing loss of confidence in key age groups, in particular 50-64 year olds.
September has seen a sudden, worrying drop in the confidence levels of those earning in the £35,000 to £49,999 bracket, driven by increased concern for the UK’s economic position in the coming 12 months.
Since we entered life under COVID-19, marketers have been acutely interested in indicators that prove consumer confidence is returning. GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index crashed in the early stages of COVID-19 from -9 to -34.
Normally, the weeks leading up to a major event like the Euro Championships would see fans splashing out on new TVs. But this isn’t a normal year - so, what's been happening? GfK’s Jan Lorbach (Senior Global Strategic Insights Manager) answers our questions on the what and the why of recent TV sales.
The pandemic has boosted the market value of the TCG sector for the foreseeable future. Demand remains high, but there are winds of change coming, and it will be important to target different consumer groups carefully.
"48% say they’re more likely to visit a store that offers augmented or virtual reality" (GfK) - and "68% say AR could persuade them to buy an item online without needing to see it in physical reality.” (Eyekandy). GfK and Eyekandy join ideas to explore how far Augmented Reality (AR) is already influencing shoppers’ online purchase decisions and what the next big thing for retail is likely to be.
Which smart home products are people across Europe buying - and how are they using those products? GfK presents the major EU trends, with deep dives into UK, France and Netherlands.
This infographic covers the key learnings and trends observed in the United Kingdom across the period, outlining what it took for brands to win and where the opportunities might lie ahead.
Has our Black Friday spending power been cannibalised by previous lockdown purchases? Or is it set for a record boost as we cheer ourselves with the money saved by being stuck at home this year?
What are the specific criteria that are tipping these purchase decisions? If you know what factors your shoppers care most about, you can focus your environmental investment on areas that not only benefit our planet, but also attract maximum approval, loyalty and spend from your buying audience.
How do brands – especially alcohol brands - ensure meaningful interactions with consumers, when lockdown restricted people to online buying, or via grocery stores and supermarkets? During lockdowns and the ongoing social distancing, people no longer interacted with brands in the same away - and that has changed their purchase journey going forwards.
Get a holistic picture of the health & wellbeing trend in general. Get to know different consumer types, how they deal with healthy lifestyle topics and how this is reflected in their behavior.
Reliable weekly data gives sales management the insights they need to better plan for and maximize promotions, product launches and those all-important seasonal sales peaks.
Learn how reliable weekly POS tracking gives you the insights you need to optimize promotions, product launches and those all-important seasonal sales events.
As urgency buying starts to fall off, GfK looks at the changes in the UK's buying patterns for consumer goods throughout March, and looks at the pattern seen in China for when things might get back to normal.
Purchases of durable goods in Britain has increased 41.9% in week 12, compared to last year, with massive growth in items such as chest freezers, IT monitors, mobile computing, hair clippers and media tablets. Online share of total sales now accounts for almost 50% of the market.
To provide some clarity and guidance on the current cluttered advertising environment, we used our learnings from Ad Fit Optimizer to create this guide with 6 top tips to create effective advertising.
Download it now and optimize your campaign before it goes out!
How are consumers using voice to control their gadgets? What are the opportunities for brands and retailers? Discover the future of voice in our Thought Leadership hub.
Smart home isn’t a new trend, it has been around for several years now, on the cusp of being the ‘next big thing’ for consumer’s to enjoy. But still only slightly over a third of UK consumers (38%) say they own more than one smart home device – most often a smart TV.
Last week - hot out of Mobile World Congress - our director of tech research, Imran Choudhary, posted the key take-outs of the latest and greatest devices and trends that we can look forward to in 2019. Click to read all the highlights!
GfK’s Eszter Boczan is joining Barclay’s Carol Ashby at the MRS Financial Services Conference 2018 to deliver insights on how banks can build brand trust, engagement and loyalty through their branch window communications – with the help of neuroscience.
Read the findings of our recent test on some ads that were airing in the UK during the World Cup, all from the same product category (consumer electronics).
What should we really be focusing on when selecting a pricing tool? In this article we give you 3 simple requirements you should consider when choosing an online pricing tool that delivers real value!
With the tournament kicking off in Russia this month, May and June represent crucial months for sales in the UK TV market. To win the lion’s share of this opportunity, TV manufacturers and retailers are focusing hard on competitive pricing and product promotion to entice shoppers. What's the best pricing strategy? Where should you focus your promotional activity? Find out more in our blog!
What is the real impact of big sporting events on sales? We've combined a range of our data to show how next month's World Cup will affect TV sales (taking just one example product). Watch our technology expert, Zak Haeri, to discover the key findings from our data.
We've combined a range of our data to show how next month's World Cup will affect TV sales. Find out our predictions on how the World Cup will impact TV sales in this interactive infographic.
GfK has once again placed among the most innovative market research firms worldwide, according to an annual ranking published by the American Marketing Association.
One of the big questions our clients are asking us is, “Does General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) apply to me, and what specific actions do I need to take to be compliant with my research?”
Understand the opportunities and implications of new trends, consumer behaviours and expectations in your industry so you can win consumers’ ongoing trust and loyalty. We have wrapped all the need-to-know consumer insights to help you start planning your 2018 strategies.
We are looking for bright graduates with an expected or achieved minimum 2:1 (or above) in any subject, who are dedicated to developing a career in research for our 2017 intake.
We all thought it, and perhaps even knew it! We’ve seen the rise of online sales in Black Friday weeks across the last few years, but now it’s official, for the consumer durable categories as tracked by GfK, more sales now take place online than off.
Since arriving in this country, Black Friday has become a key date in UK shopping. This is equally true for the mobile market. If we look back to Black Friday 2015, total Smart-Mobile sales grew +29% compared to the week prior to Black Friday.
The rise of Black Friday in the UK over the past few years has been staggering. The US-imported sales frenzy has radically altered the composition of our traditional peak period, pulling an increasing number of sales from both sides of Black Friday.
The PC market is no exception in regards to the growing importance of Black Friday in the shopping calendar. Despite strong promotional price cuts, the value of the PC space still benefitted, with Mobile Computing showing +9% YoY value growth in 2016.
Total Personal Care saw a moderate increase of 6% over the second quarter of 2017. The best performing category is hair dryers gaining by 60% year on year whilst volume declined by 4% over the same period as average prices rise by £13. The shavers and dental care categories also saw growth at 8% and 7% respectively.
The Consumer Durables market has always been fuelled by innovation, some successful and some less so. The latest wave of innovation is Smart technology, which is influencing many electrical products, some outside of the conventional consumer electronics categories.
Political and economic uncertainty has always had a bearing on our spending habits as consumers, and during these times of financial insecurity, we often think twice about spending decisions.
We thought it was time to take another look at the hottest technologies impacting consumers’ lives and talk about a brand new trend which is set to transform today’s global industries and businesses.
Why do three out of four new product launches fail to achieve their potential? One area that is of paramount importance is to truly understand the target customer. Who is this product for? What are their unmet needs? And what will make them hand over their hard-earned cash? Read on to discover more.
The pace of change driven by new technologies never slows. For our latest thinking on how five key trends will impact Connected Consumers now and next, explore our full Tech Trends 2017 report
In an occasion-driven industry like alcoholic drinks, how can brands increase the effectiveness of their touchpoint activations. Find out in our white paper.
There is still considerable consternation among many in the consumer electronics industry that Brexit will have a negative effect on market volume sales and turnover in 2017 and beyond.
The retail IT market continued to see challenging conditions in the first quarter of 2017, with the value generated by sales of IT products falling by 5% compared to the first quarter of 2016.
The total paint* market achieved its twelfth consecutive month of decline. This fall reached -8.2% in value and was even bigger in litres (-9.5%) in the first quarter of 2017 versus 2016.
Total Small Kitchen Appliances (SKA) saw a drop in value of over 9% in the first 3 months of 2017 with the majority of categories declining including kettles, toasters and food preparation.
All in all, 2016 has been a successful year for tyre manufacturers in the UK. Following the increasing number of SUVs on the road, 4x4 tyre sales grew notably by 18% units sold* yoy, but overall GfK’s Panel Market GB was flat.
Consumers are more connected than ever. New technologies and the benefits they bring have a significant impact on people’s behavior and their relationships with brands. Find out what that means for your business!
Although the referendum vote to leave the European Union caused anxiety about its effect on business (as indicated by the pessimism and caution registered in GfK’s post referendum consumer confidence survey) sales of electrical durables over the second half of 2016 appeared largely unaffected.
2015 was a strong year for the bird care market, growing 15% in value compared to 2014. 2015 was a strong year for the bird care market, growing 15% in value compared to 2014. Growth continued on into 2016, with a 6% increase in both value and volume making 2016 the most valuable year in the past 5.
2016 has been a tumultuous year, and it’s still unclear what the consequences of the Brexit vote, the policies of President-elect Trump, and the economic slowdown in previously high-growth regions such as China will be.
Reignited hype and significant financial backing suggests we may be teetering on the edge of a second wave of virtual reality (VR) success. 20 years of inconspicuous availability is now overshadowed as expectations have surged. Some of the world’s largest companies are in support of VR, while PC and mobile manufacturer launches have driven momentum in 2016. Now up for debate is whether VR will become a mass market entity, and how.
GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index has decreased by five points this month to -8. All five of the measures in the Index saw decreases in November.
Our CCB foresting tool combines new vehicle registrations with our Consumer Confidence Barometer (CCB) data to forecast if sales will increase or decrease in the next three to four months.
As we now enter the month of November we are getting ever closer to the most important day in the retail calendar Black Friday, or are we?
Over the past three years this single day has represented the most important day in the retail calendar. However we are already seeing through early communication from retailers that the focus may not be just on this single day.
I think it’s safe to say that 2016 has been one of the most interesting years since the GfK Consumer Confidence Barometer (CCB) started back in 1974.
The monthly survey we carry out for the European Commission among UK consumers started the year in a resiliently bullish mood, increasing two points to +4 in January.
But we quickly saw concerns about the EU Referendum. In February, the Overall Index Score dropped four points back to zero.
Nothing seems to grab the attention of GB like a large sporting event and with 2016 having both the European football championship and Rio Olympics, there appears to be no better time to upgrade your TV.
The fashion industry has been struggling across Europe for a while, and the concern is that the UK, which has up to now maintained a flat performance, may start to decline.
We share our latest thinking on what a UK fashion brands need to do to be successful in today’s ever changing environment and to inspire and engage tomorrow's fashion consumer.
Our new infographic on Virtual Reality updates you on the current state of consumer interest for this new technology: find out how sales of headmounts and action cams, consumer's buying intention and the applications of Virtual Reality are developing.
With access to more devices and new formats of viewing than ever before, the video viewing landscape is changing rapidly. We’re now viewing videos not only at home and on the go, but also across multiple devices. Subscription video on demand (SVOD) services in particular is growing fast. According to BARB, UK households subscribing to Netflix, Amazon Video and Now TV have increased from 14% to 24% year on year.
Fashion and lifestyle is more affected by globalization and digitization than virtually any other industry. So what can retailers at large learn from those at the sharp edge? Discover the four key trends.
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