Despite competition from a growing range of more competitively priced and more advanced smartwatches over the last few years, more basic fitness bands and sports watches have held off the challenge and increased their lead over the course of the year in ownership terms, rising from 18% in September 2019 to 20% the same month this year. Smartwatch ownership remained static at 14% over the same period.

The summer relaxation of COVID restrictions meant that the three months to September saw a return to more normal levels of smartphone purchasing, with 15% of people buying one during the period compared to uncharacteristic lows of 12% in the two previous quarters. It was encouraging to see that technology spending could bounce back with a return to some degree of normality over the summer months, but tighter restrictions towards the end of the year look set to put a dampener on consumer confidence again and subdue purchasing well into early 2021.

One of the biggest threats to the technology market overall, and particularly for screen-based devices, is people’s growing concern about the negative impact too much technology use can have on their mental health. Prior to the pandemic, we saw 18% of all adults saying they had cut down on their screen time in the three months to January 2020. Although this declined to 15% in the next two quarters, with people locked down or reluctant to go out and therefore more reliant on their technology devices for entertainment and communication, the number rose again to 19% in the three months to September, after restrictions had been eased over the summer.

The special focus of this Report is on the technology gifting market, and one of the key findings to emerge is that grandparents are way down the list of people who are considered as potential recipients of technology products as gifts, with just 5% of those who would buy technology gifts saying they would buy for these family members. The fact that many older consumers are turning to technology more during COVID-19 provides the ideal platform for pushing the gifting message for this demographic.

• The impact of COVID-19 on purchasing of consumer technology products

• How online activities have changed as a result of COVID-19

• How companies can appeal to older demographics that are showing significant increases in their use of technology this year

• Opportunities in the technology gifting market.

The first COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the UK at the end of January 2020, with a small number of cases in February. As the case level rose, the government ordered the closure of non-essential stores on 20 March. 

A wider lockdown requiring people to stay at home except for essential shopping, exercise and work ‘if absolutely necessary’ followed on 23 March. It wasn't until 15 June that non-essential stores were allowed to re-open, followed by pubs, restaurants, hotels and hairdressers on 4 July, and many beauty businesses on 13 July.

By September, it had become clear that the UK was at the start of a second wave, and social distancing measures were intensified. Continued increases in infection numbers led to Wales implementing a two-week national lockdown from 19 October, England announcing a month-long lockdown from 5 November, and Scotland introducing a new five-level system of coronavirus restrictions. 

Despite these restrictions, however, case numbers continued to increase. All four UK nations tightened restrictions in January 2021, effectively leading to a full UK-wide lockdown. There is no defined end date for the lockdown, although the legislation regarding to the English lockdown that was presented to Parliament extends to 31 March.

The UK’s vaccination programme started on 8 December 2020, and with both the Pfizer-BioNTech and the Oxford-AstraZenica vaccines licenced for use in the UK, the government aims to offer a vaccine to 15 million people by mid-February.

Much of this Report was prepared in December 2020, before the announcement of the January lockdown.

However, the content was reassessed and, where necessary, adjusted on 26 January 2021, in order to ensure that our analysis and our forecast expectations still hold true. We have also reassessed the content in the light of the progress of the vaccine rollout, and the resolution of the Brexit negotiations.

This Report covers ownership of and intentions to purchase consumer technology products (eg televisions, laptops, and smartphones) and the activities consumers perform on their laptops/desktops, tablets and smartphones.

In each quarter, we focus on a different aspect of consumer behaviour. This edition focuses on financial, transactional and product/brand-related activities, including online shopping, managing finances and reading/writing product reviews.

Every edition also contains a Special Focus section, where we address a particular aspect of the consumer technology market. This edition’s Special Focus is on the gifting of technology products.