CHRISTMAS SHOPPING CRAZE

How Brits 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 Brits 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. 59% of respondents buy presents for their relatives. For 47% it’s a good opportunity to give their friends a gift. However, our survey results show that only 24% of Brits decide to buy gifts for their colleagues. And, 12% 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 toys (38%), clothes (32%), alcohol (27%), accessories (27%) and sweets (24%).

An interesting fact is that many Brits (35%) 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 35% Brits to buy Christmas gifts earlier, in November. 9% decide to buy gifts in September and October and 1 out of 5 Brits prepares Christmas gifts before September.

When choosing Christmas gifts most Brits (53%) try to find out what the receiver would like to get. Fewer people buy gifts on a hunch (35%) and only 12% ask directly.

As the survey results show, the most desirable gifts of 2018 are electronics (35%), gift cards (32%), money (29%) and travel, e.g. plane tickets (29%). Alcohol (47%), sweets (27%), underwear (24%) and perfumes (24%) were voted the least desirable gifts to receive. We spend 174£ on average on gifts.

Most British people (71%) spend Christmas at home. 18% visit their friends and 11% go abroad for Christmas.

Brits still buy Christmas food the traditional way: 53% shop in brick and mortar stores and markets. 18% place their orders online and the remaining 29% use both options when shopping. An average Brit spends 119£ on Christmas food.

Is Christmas a reason to wear spick-and-span clothes? 44% of our respondents declare that they do not need new clothes and prefer those they already have in their closet. 1 out of 3 Brits says that they buy brand new clothes and 24% content themselves with new accessories like jewellery or ties.

388£ is spend on average in the United Kingdom during Christmas. Most of the money is spent on gifts (45%), food expenses make 31% of that sum and Christmas outfits—24%.

Besides the UK 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 UK placed third on our list with 388£ which converted into euros amounts to 440€. Czechs are leading with $527 spent on gifts, food and clothes. For comparison, an average Irish spends 450€ and German around 252€.

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 Asos, Currys and Hughes 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 the UK, 340 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 UK 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.