CHRISTMAS SHOPPING CRAZE

How Hongkongers prepare for Christmas

Christmas time is not just family reunions, singing carols and decorating the Christmas tree. 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 Hongkongers 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 loved ones happy. 58% of respondents buy gifts for their friends. For 53% it’s a good opportunity to give their colleagues a gift. However, our survey results show that only 29% of Hongkongers decide to buy gifts for their relatives. And 2% of respondents declare that they help charities or make Christmas donations, e.g. a food drive.

What gifts do we usually buy? According to our respondents, the most popular categories are sweets (29%), accessories (29%), christmas cards (20%), entertainment, e.g. movie tickets (20%) and clothes (18%).

An interesting fact is that most Hongkongers (58%) leave Christmas gifts until the last moment—December. Christmas decorations in shopping malls and special sales like famous Black Friday ones manage to convince 29% of Hongkongers to buy Christmas gifts earlier, in November. Only 13% shop for gifts in advance (4% in September and October and 9% before September).

When choosing Christmas gifts most Hongkongers try to find out what the receiver would like to get (47%). Fewer people ask directly (20%) and 33% buy gifts on a hunch.

As the survey results show, the most desirable gifts of 2018 are sweets (38%), jewellery (31%), clothes (27%) and accessories (27%). What may come as a surprise though, is that sweets (42%) were also voted the least desirable gifts to receive together with toys (24%), gift cards (22%) and Christmas cards (18%). We spend 1027 HKD on average on gifts.

40% of Hongkongers spend Christmas at home and another 40% declare that they visit friends. The remaining 20% is travelling abroad for Christmas.

Hongkongers still buy Christmas food the traditional way: 38% shop in brick and mortar stores and markets. 22% place their orders online and the remaining 40% use both options when shopping. An average Hongkonger spends 1082 HKD 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 5 Hongkongers says that they buy brand new clothes and 24% content themselves with new accessories like jewellery or ties.

2916 HKD is spent on average in Hong Kong during Christmas. Most of the money is spent on food (37%), gifts make 35% of that sum and Christmas outfits—28%.

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

Hong Kong placed 13th on our list with 2916 HKD which converted into dollars amounts to $372. 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 Aliexpress, LookFntastic, Farfetch and Zalora 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 Hong Kong, 450 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 Hong Kong 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.