Christmas shopping craze

How Australians prepare for Christmas

Christmas time is not just family reunions and barbecue with seafood. The last few weeks of the year are also a big burden on our home budget since we have to accommodate additional expenses, such as Christmas gifts, food and sometimes even elegant outfits.

Picodi Analysis Team decided to find out what Christmas expenses look like, what gifts Australians usually buy and how much it costs to put food on the Christmas table. From our report you will also learn what kind of gifts are the most desirable ones and which are a bad idea.

During Christmas we want to make our family and friends happy. 75% of respondents buy presents for their relatives. For 54% it’s a good opportunity to give their friends a gift. However, our survey results show that only 14% of Australians decide to buy gifts for their colleagues. And 7% of respondents declare that they help charities or make Christmas donations, e.g. The Smith Family’s Toy & Book Appeal or a food drive.

What gifts do we usually buy? According to our respondents, the most popular categories are toys (61%), clothes (38%), gift cards (30%), electronics (29%) and sweets. (27%)

An interesting fact is that many Australians (38%) leave Christmas gifts until the last moment—December. Christmas ornaments in shopping malls and special sales like famous Black Friday ones manage to convince 43% of Australians to buy Christmas gifts earlier, in November. Only 19% shop for gifts in advance (16% in September and October and 3% before September).

When choosing Christmas gifts most Australians try to find out what the receiver would like to get (46%). Fewer people ask directly (27%) and 27% buy gifts on a hunch.

As the survey results show, the most desirable gifts of 2018 are money (39%), gift cards (32%), electronics (30%) and clothes (29%). Toys (29%), sweets (25%), alcohol (23%) and footwear (21%) were voted the least desirable gifts to receive. We spend 335 AUD on average on gifts.

Most Australians (64%) spend Christmas at home.The remaining 36% visit their friends for Christmas.

Australians still buy Christmas food the traditional way: 48% shop in brick and mortar stores and markets. 14% place their orders online and the remaining 38% use both options when shopping. An average Australian spends 185 AUD on Christmas food.

Are Christmas a reason to wear spick-and-span clothes? 56% of our respondents declare that they do not need new clothes and prefer those they already have in their closet. 1 out of 3 Australians says that they buy brand new clothes and 14% content themselves with new accessories like jewellery or ties.

664 AUD is spent on average in Australia during Christmas. Most of the money is spent on gifts (50%), food expenses make 28% of that sum and Christmas outfit—22%.

Besides Australia we conducted the same survey among other nations. The result is a comparison of Christmas spending for 34 countries of Europe, Asia, America and Africa where Christmas or its equivalent is celebrated over a similar time period.

Australia placed 7th on our list with 664 AUD which converted into dollars amounts to $481. Czechs are leading with $527 spent on gifts, food and clothes. For comparison, an average Filipino spends only $255 and people from the UK around $500.

Do not wait with your Christmas shopping until the last minute, as the most desired products sell out quickly! If you are unsure what to buy, check out stores such as The Good Guys, Sephora, THE ICONIC, ASOS and Gifts Australia and get inspired. With Picodi, you will earn some of the money you spend on gifts back through our cashback service.

Methodology

We conducted the surveys in early December 2018 among more than 13,000 people from Europe, Asia, America, Africa and Australia in countries where Christmas or its equivalent is celebrated during the winter period. In Australia, 280 people took part in the survey. For currency conversion we used the average exchange rate for November 2018.

Public Use

Are you willing to share the information and infographics about Christmas in Australia and other countries with your readers? Feel free to use all the data and infographics presented in this report for both commercial and non-commercial purposes as long as you indicate the author of the research (Picodi.com) with a link to this subpage.