With 65.1% of UK consumers planning to go on holiday this summer, the ongoing cost of living crisis will limit the amount of money shoppers have left to spend on retail, says GlobalData. According to the leading data and analytics company’s Consumer Survey*, 42% of those consumers will cut back spend on essential sectors including food & grocery and health & beauty to ensure they can go on holiday.

Juliet Cuell, Retail Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Broken down by age groups, GlobalData’s survey found that 84.7% of 16–24-year-olds, primarily due to their lower incomes, will cut back spending, while only 30.3% of over 65-year-olds intend to. Therefore, retailers targeting younger shoppers such as Superdrug and online pureplays like Cult Beauty are more likely to be impacted by the cost of living crisis and should put steps in place to counteract this.”

As well as cutting back on spending, shoppers are also likely to purchase retailers’ own brand products for their holiday to make savings where possible by trading down from well-known brands, particularly on everyday toiletries. One third already intend to do so when purchasing essential products, in response to rising prices.

Cuell continues: “To encourage spending, retailers should capitalise on younger consumers’ appetite for keeping up with the latest trends and launch new holiday ranges with introductory price promotions or with free samples of the latest products that consumers can travel with. For instance, retailers such as Boots must utilise membership pricing schemes to include a greater variety of brands, like P20 suncare, or risk losing shoppers to discounters, some of which have an almost equally broad product offer.”

Value players like Savers and the grocers are likely to grow market share, particularly as grocers such as Sainsbury’s have been widening their health & beauty ranges instore, offering product choice across price points.

Cuell adds: “In order to compete on price, health & beauty specialists should make better use of instore specialists to offer a more personable browsing experience than that available at grocers and discounters, such as advice sessions for loyalty scheme members on holiday travel health.”

* GlobalData’s monthly UK consumer survey of 2,000 respondents, conducted in June 2022