Research reveals that despite an overall increase in total UK spend this year, over a fifth (21.5%) of Brits actually plan to spend less this year than Christmas 2013.
Research conducted by ecommerce partner Webloyalty, looking into consumer spend at Christmas, reveals that despite an overall increase in total UK spend this year, over a fifth (21.5%) of Brits actually plan to spend less this year than Christmas 2013.
The study of more than 2,000 consumers by Webloyalty revealed that Brits are taking their time to shop around this Christmas, with the average consumer spending around 10 hours on Christmas-related shopping activities. One in 20 of those surveyed are spending more than 48 hours shopping for gifts, food and decorations this year, while the average budget of shoppers is £433.
Online retailers can expect a busy Christmas season, as over two thirds (66.8%) of consumers will shop online and in-store for Christmas goods. Only 16.8% of respondents are planning to shop solely in-store, a figure just exceeding the 16.3% who will only shop online.
The traditional Christmas food shop remains a favourite for in-store shoppers. Almost two thirds (66.5%) prefer to do their food shopping in-store, with Tesco topping the supermarket charts – nearly 40% (37.9%) of Brits plan to use the store for Christmas food and grocery shopping this year.
Good news for low-cost supermarkets sees over half (51.8%) of consumers shopping at either Aldi, Iceland, Lidl or Farmfoods. Just over a quarter (29.5%) will shop at high-end supermarkets such as M&S, Waitrose and online supermarket Ocado. Of shoppers preferring to use online supermarkets, a third (33.5%) will do so because it works out cheaper. Nearly two thirds (63.2%) agree that online grocery shopping saves time compared to visiting supermarkets in-store.
The survey also reveals that over a fifth (21.1%) of Brits intend to shop in the sales before Boxing Day. Savvy shoppers are planning to hold off for last-minute bargains, as nearly a quarter (24.1%) of consumers plan to shop for all (or some of) their Christmas presents in the sales.
“With warm weather to blame for a slow start to the winter for retailers, Christmas is looking more important than ever to boost end-of-year numbers,” said Guy Chiswick, managing director of Webloyalty Northern Europe. “Our research shows that UK shoppers will spend more overall on Christmas this year than in 2013, with gift spend up 3.3% on last year’s figures. Interestingly, over a fifth of us intend to spend less this year, meaning a big opportunity for low-cost retailers to cash in this Christmas.”
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