Christmas spending likely to rise

PwC’s Festive Predictions research found that one in four consumers also intend to spend more this Christmas, across all age ranges and regions, resulting in a 12 per cent increase on 2020.

More people are planning to spend Christmas with extended family, leading to more gifting opportunities, more celebratory food and drink and more Christmas socialising, the survey found, and with recent price inflation, this means people expect they will need to spend more. 

Online shopping will be the big winner again this Christmas with Millennials remaining the most active online shopping age group and London is the most likely region to buy online. Over two-thirds, 67 per cent, of Christmas spend will be online, edging closer to the 83 per cent online spend over Black Friday.

The first two weeks of December will again be the busiest for Christmas shopping but more than half of consumers will have bought most of their presents by the end of November, earlier than in previous years. Concerns over stock levels, delivery times and further impacts of COVID are forcing consumers to shop earlier than usual to avoid missing out.

“Christmas this year may not be completely back to normal but consumers are determined to make it a good one and many are prepared to spend up to 20 per cent more than last year,” Lisa Hooker, consumer markets lead at PwC, said.

“Spending habits will be more traditional with a focus on food and drink, Christmas dinner and stocking fillers as opposed to homewares and toys. Concerns over stock availability [are] also driving a desire to shop early this festive period.

“We know consumers are looking to spend significantly online – for both Christmas and Black Friday – so retailers need to think about how they can get the best from that scenario. Early shopping offers retailers the opportunity to reduce delivery costs and pressures, manage demand to reduce the cost of seasonal workers, control pricing to protect margins, and offer certainty of delivery to consumers.”