Spending merrily on high: €1.5bn Christmas bonanza on cards

Retailers will enjoy an anticipated spending bonanza this Christmas, with consumers expected to splurge about €1.5bn.

A survey of over 1,500 consumers found the lift in the economy will translate into festive season spending.

The study found of the likely €1.5bn spend (up 3.5% on last year), €839.9m will go on presents. Almost two thirds of consumers plan to spend up to €300 on presents.

The average household Christmas budget is €578 while 13.5% have budgeted €1,000 or more.

According to the study by eCommerce group, Webloyalty, just under two thirds (63.2%) of those questioned said their Christmas spend would be similar to last year and 8.8% said they planned to spend more than last year.

However, while overall spending on Christmas is up, a quarter (24.7%) intend to spend less than they did last year.

The study also discovered the average consumer spends around 12 hours on Christmas-related shopping activities, while 7.1% spend more than 48 hours shopping for the festive season.

A mixture of online and in-store is the most popular way to shop for 68% while 12.9% plan to only shop online.

Despite one in four planning to cut back on spending, almost half said they would not shop in the seasonal sales.

For those who do intend to go sale shopping, one in five said they would do so from January 2 onwards.

The survey found the tradition of sending Christmas cards remains alive and well, with 68.1% planning to send up to 30 this year. The printed card remains a firm favourite with two thirds intending to send a printed card compared to only 3.3% planning to send e-cards.

Managing director of Webloyalty Northern Europe, Guy Chiswick said the results would make for positive reading for Irish retailers after a difficult few years.

“Unsurprisingly a large portion of the estimated €1.55bn will be spent on Christmas gifting. What was interesting to see from the report was almost half of people say they don’t intend to shop in the sales and those who do will not begin until after New Year’s Day. This represents an opportunity for retailers to hold off on discounting and sales until after the busy and lucrative Christmas period.”