Brits Plan to Spend £560 Celebrating Christmas

LONDON, October 18, 2011 -

• Almost half of Brits not planning to cut back on gifts this year
• 21% of people will borrow from one source or another to pay for presents
• Consumers will turn as much to the high street as they will to the Internet for Xmas gifts

Brits plan to spend an average of £560 celebrating Christmas this year - with almost half of people planning to put current economic conditions to one side and spend the same amount on presents for their family as last year.

The HSBC Christmas Spending Survey found that across the UK people will spend on average £378 on gifts for their immediate family, and an additional £183 on food, drink and entertainment this festive season. In Wales the respective figures are £394 and £166, while in Scotland they are £351 and £164.

The survey also revealed that:

• The biggest spenders will be those aged 35-44 (£605.89), as well as those in living in the North-West of England (£852.84).
• 20% of people say they will spend more this year, compared to last year - and this applies to more Scottish people (26%), but to fewer Londoners (17%).
• In contrast, 22% will spend less this year, compared to 2010 - especially women (25%) and people living in Wales (31%).

Saving money

Among people who plan to spend money on presents for their immediate family, 78% will try and save cash by one means or another to get the best value for their money.

Over a third of people (38%) will use discount vouchers, whereas 34% will be cashing in their retailer reward points. Others will be more selective when it comes to giving presents, with 14% saying they will drop some people off their present list this year to make savings.

1 in 10 people (9%) will give homemade presents, whereas others will resort to recycling presents given to them in previous years (8%), with another 6% even giving second-hand items as presents.

Women will do more to save money this year when it comes to giving Christmas presents to immediate family members, whereas 21% of men will not even try to make any savings.

High Street v Online spending

The survey found that British consumers will turn as much to the high street as they will to the Internet when it comes to Christmas shopping for presents this year. However, 13% of people will only use online sources for presents and exactly the same proportion will only use offline outlets.

In general, online sources will be more popular with the younger age groups under 55, but more of those aged 65+ will only use offline sources.

Compared to men, women find particular appeal in high-street shops (71%), but also local markets (27%), Christmas fetes (20%), charity shops (14%) and boutique shops (10%).

Car boot sales, however, are equally appealing to men and women as a source of presents, and the same applies to different age and social groups, and to people across the country.

Financing Christmas

The survey revealed that 67% of people will fund their Christmas present shopping from their salary or other income and 37% will use all or some of their savings.

However, collectively, 21% of people will borrow from one source or another to pay for the presents they buy.

Credit and store cards will be especially popular with those aged 35-44 (22%), whereas using an overdraft facility will be especially common among those aged 18-24 (13%).

In fact, more people aged 18-24 will also turn to personal loans (3%), payday loans (2%) and even borrowing money from family and friends (3%).
When to hit the shops

Retailers will be pleased to hear that just 6% of British people say they have already done the majority of their Christmas shopping, either in last year’s January sales (1%) or throughout the year up to and including September (5%).

Early December (1^st to 11^th) promises to be busy as usual with 30% of people doing most of their present shopping then. Just 3% will put it off until the week before Christmas (19^th to 22^nd).

Ashtar Antoine, HSBC Head of Current Account Management, said: ‘Our research shows that despite the recent economic gloom, many households still plan to spend money celebrating this special time of the year. It is clear that the majority of households are looking to get the best value for their money, with discount vouchers and retailer reward schemes popular methods of saving cash.

‘Over two thirds of people will fund their present shopping from their salary or other income. HSBC customers can check their current account online…  

A full copy of the HSBC Christmas Spending Survey can be found at www.hsbc.co.uk/newsroom

Notes to Editors:

The survey was commissioned by HSBC and presents quantitative research carried out with 2001 Great British adults aged 18+ as part of an online consumer omnibus survey.  Fieldwork took place between 26^th and 27^th September 2011.  During the omnibus research process, questions are posed to consumers and data is collected until various pre-defined sampling quotas are reached.  The sample is then demographically weighted to make it representative of the GB population aged 18+ to overcome any sampling deficiencies and / or Internet bias.

The results have then been analysed and sig-tested at a 95% confidence level according to age, gender, region and social group. The main differences that are interesting and statistically significant are reported here.

Dynamic Markets is a research consultancy in its 12^th year of trading.  It serves a wide variety of blue-chip B2B and B2C clients across various industry sectors.  It strictly adheres to the UK MRS Code of Conduct.

HSBC Bank plc: HSBC serves 16.1 million customers in the UK and employs approximately 52,000 people.  In the UK, HSBC offers a complete range of personal, premier and private banking services including bank accounts and mortgages. It also provides commercial banking for small to medium businesses and corporate and institutional banking services. HSBC Bank plc is a wholly owned subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc.    

The HSBC Group: HSBC Holdings plc, the parent company of the HSBC Group, is headquartered in London. The Group serves customers worldwide from around 7,500 offices in 87 countries and territories in Europe, the Asia-Pacific region, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets of US$2,691bn at 30 June 2011, HSBC is one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organisations.

For further information please contact:

Simon Coughlin
+44-(0)20-7992-1574 / +44-(0)7827-354600
simon.coughlin@hsbc.com

www.hsbc.co.uk/newsroom

.