We buy more in winter

A survey conducted by One Hour Translation in eight key world markets during the latter half of January 2015, has revealed interesting statistics about the online purchasing habits of consumers in these countries in winter (January-February in seven countries, and June-August in Australia). The survey was jointly carried out with Google Consumer Surveys based on a representative sample of 800 respondents – 100 from each of the following countries: the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and Japan.

An average of 34% of the participants answered that they buy more online in winter than at other times of the year. The country breakdown of their responses is as follows: in Canada, 44% of respondents answered that they buy online more heavily in January and February; in second place was the UK, where 43% stated that they bought more online in winter; in the US and the Netherlands, 36% of participants responded that they purchased more online in winter; in Australia, 34% buy more in the winter months followed by, in descending order, 32% in Germany, 27% in Japan, and 23% in Italy.

An average of 46% of all participants responded that their online purchasing was steady throughout the year, as follows: 48% in the US, 42% in the UK, 53% in Australia, 29% in Canada, 55% in Italy, 47% in Germany, 41% in the Netherlands, and 56% in Japan.

An average of 15% of respondents answered that they did not buy more online in winter than at other times of the year, as follows: 13% in the USA, the UK and Japan, 10% in Australia, 17% in Canada, 12% in Italy, 19% in Germany, and 20% in the Netherlands. Only 5% of all participants said that they did not purchase online at all: 3% of participants in the US, Australia, and the Netherlands, just 2% in the UK and Germany, 10% in Canada and Italy, and 4% in Japan.

The survey results follow the results of a One Hour Translation survey completed in the fourth quarter of 2014 with 2,000 participants from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Japan and French-speaking Canadians. According to that survey, 83% of Italians prefer to buy goods and services online in their native language, compared with 80% of Germans, 65% of the Dutch, 74% of French-speaking Canadians, and no less than 90% of Japanese people.

«The results of our new survey are extremely clear: companies selling online are well advised to concentrate their efforts in increasing online sales in the first quarter of the year, immediately after the Christmas period», said Ofer Shoshan, Co-Founder and CEO of One Hour Translation. «As the world’s largest online translation agency, One Hour Translation is well-equipped to advise customers on this issue and to help them increase their online sales in the peak-demand winter period, as well as at other times of year».