CHRISTMAS SHOPPING CRAZE

How Filipinos prepare for Christmas

Christmas time is not just family reunions 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 Filipinos 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. 64% of respondents buy presents for their relatives. For 50% it’s a good opportunity to give their friends a gift. Our survey results show that 14% of Filipinos decide to buy gifts also for their colleagues. And 7% of respondents declare that they help charities or make Christmas donations.

What gifts do we usually buy? According to our respondents, the most popular categories are clothes (43%), cosmetics (36%), toys (29%), money (21%) and knick-knacks (14%).

An interesting fact is that many Filipinos (43%) leave Christmas gifts until the last moment—December. Christmas ornaments in shopping malls and special sales like the famous Black Friday ones manage to convince half of Filipinos to buy Christmas gifts earlier, in November. Only 7% shop for gifts in advance (September and October).

When choosing Christmas gifts half of Filipinos try to find out what the receiver would like to get. Fewer people buy gifts on a hunch (36%) and only 14% ask directly.

As the survey results show, the most desirable gifts of 2018 are electronics (43%), clothes (43%), money (29%) and home appliances (29%). Toys (36%), alcohol (36%), Christmas cards (29%) and underwear (21%) were voted the least desirable gifts to receive. We spend 6900 PHP on average on gifts.

Most Filipinos (79%) spend Christmas at home. The remaining 21% decide to visit their friends for Christmas.

Filipinos still buy Christmas food the traditional way: 86% shop in brick and mortar stores and markets. Only 14% place their orders online. An average Filipino spends 4200 PHP on Christmas food.

Is Christmas a reason to wear spick-and-span clothes? 43% of our respondents declare that they do not need new clothes and prefer those they already have in their closet. Half of Filipinos say that they buy brand new clothes and 7% content themselves with new accessories like jewellery or ties.

13400 PHP is spent on average in the Philippines during Christmas. Half of the money is spent on gifts (51%), food make 31% of that sum and Christmas outfits—17%.

Besides the Philippines 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.

The Philippines placed 32nd on our list with 13400 PHP which converted into dollars amounts to $255. Czechs are leading with $527 spent on gifts, food and clothes. For comparison, an average Singaporean spends $334 and an average Hongkonger spends $372.

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 the Philippines, 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 the Philippines 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.