Over 60% of UK consumers find communications from retailers irrelevant

Study finds brands can no longer rely on demographics to inform communication strategies – highlighting the urgent need for greater personalisation

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London, UK, 13 August 2025 – Research by global cloud communications platform Infobip and economic research consultancy Retail Economics, led by retail expert Richard Lim, reveals that 61% of UK consumers consider communications from retailers and brands irrelevant to them. In addition, more than half (56%) say that communications lack personalisation.

The study, of 2,000 UK consumers across the UK, provides fresh insights into what shoppers are looking for from customer experience. The findings make it clear: retailers must move beyond simple demographic segmentation, such as age and income, and to look deeper to engage effectively. Personalisation and a unified, omnichannel approach are now essential for retailers aiming to increase customer acquisition, satisfaction and retention.

With consumers being spoilt for choice in today’s retail landscape, any friction in the customer journey can cause them to abandon their carts. This reinforces the importance the need for retailers to understand shopping personas and use this insight to drive tailored marketing, sales and engagement strategies.

The study also reveals four distinct UK shopper personas, outlining their communication preferences and pain points:

  • Exacting Shoppers (12% of consumers): Highly engaged and loyal, but the most demanding. They expect service excellence and prefer online shopping for convenience, and value digital propositions and personalised recommendations.
    Busy Shoppers (29% of consumers): Always on the go, these shoppers switch between retailers based on their immediate needs. While more tolerant of customer experience (CX) shortcomings, they prioritise digital channels and seek hassle-free experiences.
    Social Shoppers (44% of consumers): Social shoppers balance online and in-store shopping. They value personal connections, are also most likely to be concerned with data protection and ethical practices and appreciate secure, seamless, omnichannel experiences.
    Laid-back Shoppers (15% of consumers): Favouring in-store experiences, these shoppers show loyalty with minimal digital engagement. They’re forgiving of mistakes but appreciate good communication.


This study challenges common assumptions about shopper traits based on income and age, demonstrating the need to dig deeper into consumer preferences to engage effectively. We increasingly see consumers move seamlessly between channels, whether in-store, on eCommerce platforms, via messaging services or social media. The landscape is complex and the brands excelling in customer satisfaction and retention are those embracing cross-platform availability, delivering consistent experiences at every touchpoint.”

 
Kim Johal

UK&I Retail lead at Infobip

Download the full report here: https://www.infobip.com/downloads/retail-economics-report

About Infobip

Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey. Accessed through a single platform, Infobip’s omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication and contact centre solutions help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications to grow business and increase loyalty. It offers natively built technology with the capacity to reach over seven billion mobile devices and ‘things’ in 6 continents connected to over 9,700+ connections of which 800+ are direct operator connections. Infobip was established in 2006 and is led by its co-founders, CEO Silvio Kutić and Izabel Jelenić.

Recent award wins include:

  • Infobip named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) for the third consecutive year. In 2025, positioned furthest in Completeness of Vision (July 2025)
  • Infobip named among Top 75 in Fortune’s Europe’s Most Innovative Companies 2025, placing it in the top 25% of all listed organizations (June 2025)
  • Infobip ranked as a Leader in the Omdia CPaaS Universe Report for the third time (April 2025)
  • Infobip ranked an Established Leader in the Juniper Research Conversational AI Leaderboard (Feb 2025)
  • Infobip named a CPaaS Leader for the third time in the IDC MarketScape (Feb 2025)
  • Infobip named one of the top CPaaS providers in Metrigy’s CPaaS MetriRank Report (Dec 2024)
  • Infobip named number one among Established Leaders in RCS Business Messaging in Juniper Research’s RCS Business Messaging Competitor Leaderboard 2024 (Nov 2024)
  • Infobip recognized as the number one provider in the AIT Fraud Prevention market by Juniper Research (Oct 2024)
  • Infobip named to Fast Company’s Annual List of the World’s Most Innovative Companies (March 2024)