Students to lead rush back to shops next week, fitting rooms are key - report

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 9, 2021

Young consumers could be among those to most enthusiastically embrace a return to physical shopping next week, despite this consumer group also being the most comfortable with shopping online. 

A new study from student benefits platform UniDays shows that shopping in physical locations is the one experience that students are most looking forward to.

It surveyed more than 30,000 people so the results look robust. Some 30% of them said the number one priority on lockdown easing is to get back to bricks and mortar shops. That beats the 26% who want to go to restaurants, the 20% who want to go to the gym and the 16% who want to go to hairdressers or beauty salons.

It suggests a huge boost to the high street from April 12, despite fears that online shopping would become the norm for many consumers, particularly those in younger age groups.

The UK government’s recent announcement that stores will be permitted to open their fitting rooms will also be crucial for retailers, the research shows. In the study, over half (52%) of students said that not being able to try items on in changing rooms would put them off shopping in stores.

But consumers will still be expecting a high level of customer 'protection' in shops when they reopen with 25% of them saying they would support the compulsory use of hand sanitiser, 22% wanting limited numbers of people in shops and 20% favouring clothes being disinfected after they've been tried on by customers. But it's interesting that only 14% want to see social distancing in shops being maintained.