UK consumers to spend less this Christmas – survey results

October 22, 2016

See our Christmas spending survey results for 2017, 2018 and 2019.

Consumers plan to spend less on Christmas overall this year - buying presents for less people and buying more online.

We recently surveyed over 2,000 UK consumers about their Christmas 2016 spending plans and found that, compared to 2015, consumers are planning to spend less this year.

Our Christmas spending habits 2015 survey revealed that most consumers were planning to spend between £500-£700. This year that has dropped significantly, with 41% of respondents planning to spend less than £300 on Christmas presents.

This drop in spending will be achieved by buying presents for less people (between 5-10 people this year compared with 11-20 last year), spending less on partners and spouses (less than £100 this year compared with £100-£150 last year) and spending less per child (less than £100 this year compared with £100-£200 last year).

Consumers planning to spend less on Christmas shopping in 2016

As well as a drop in spending on presents, consumers are also planning to spend less on Christmas in general. Last year consumers were planning to spend on average between £200-£300 on things like food, drink and decorations over the festive period. This year the average plan is to spend less than £200.

Consumers are also planning to be more disciplined with their Christmas spending this year. In 2015 just 18% said they would stick to a budget, with 29% saying they will probably overspend by a lot. This year 38% say they will stick to their budget and just 2.4% say they will overspend by a lot.

Interestingly, consumers plan to do more of their shopping online rather than in-store this year (63% this year compared with 45% last year). Perhaps planning to take advantage of online promotions like Black Friday and Cyber Monday as well as cashback sites like Quidco and TopCashback.

Although there are obvious differences in terms of how much consumers plan to spend this year, some things do stay the same. Most people start their Christmas shopping in October-November, and the majority of the budget is spent on children.