High Street beats e-commerce as 70% students buy clothes in store finds UCAS
Students are far more likely to buy clothes on the high street (69.8 per cent) than online (22.6 per cent), according to a new report by UCAS Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of UCAS.
The UCAS Annual Survey, which polled 18,440 students from the 2013/14 academic year, also found that students don’t trust freebies and are more likely to respond to a discounted upfront price (42.5 per cent) than rewards over time (16 per cent) or a free gift (15.2 percent).
Despite eschewing online clothes shopping, they do head online to enjoy entertainment; 73.4 per cent buy music online, compared to just 9.5 per cent on the high street. 40.5 per cent stream video, with 8.9 per cent watching Netflix at least once a week.
Also, twice as many students watch TV online via a laptop or PC (29.3 per cent) compared to Freeview (14.2 per cent).
Jeremy Phillips, managing director at UCAS Media, said: “Data gives us, as digital marketers, an opportunity to deliver timely, relevant communications and make adverting better.
“With 500,000 students now starting or returning to university, our study shows where students are purchasing particular products, what kind of offers they are most responsive to – as well as revealing the kind of media they are consuming and how they are accessing it.”
Facebook is still the social network of choice, with 92 per cent on Facebook, compared to 55.8 per cent on Twitter, 42.1 per cent on Instagram and 37.5 per cent on Snapchat.
Additonally, despite the rise of online journalism they still value news in print, with almost two thirds likely to subscribe to a newspaper in print (34.2 per cent) or online (27.7 per cent) if they received a discount.