Deloitte releases annual Irish Christmas Spending survey

Deloitte’s 2013 Christmas Spending survey predicts Irish consumers will again spend more than EU counterparts over the festive season

Nov 8 2013

The average spend this Christmas per household is suggested to reach €894
The annual Deloitte Christmas Spending survey, carried out during the second and third week of September this year, has been released this week and once again predicts that Irish consumers will spend more this Christmas period than the rest of Europe. It does suggest that while spending will still be high on an European average, Irish consumers will cut spending by 1.7% this year compared to last.

The average spend this Christmas per household is suggested to reach €894, with the majority of money being spend on gifts (€484.81), food (€258.85) and social activities (€150.76). In total food spend over the festive period will account for 28% of Christmas budgets for Irish consumers.

When purchasing food, large supermarkets and hard discount stores are the most popular choices for Irish consumers when shopping this festive season. 68% of consumers plan to shop in large supermarkets with 53% planning to shop in hard discount stores while only 41% plan to shop in traditional local food shops, such as butchers or bakeries.

When it comes to most popular presents to give this year, of which books topped the list closely followed by gift vouchers, 32% of respondents stated chocolate as their chosen present for family a friends. This is similar to that reported in 2012, while those picking food and drink has fallen from 25% in 2012 to 21% this year.

This year also marks the first time since 2010 that gift vouchers has overtaken cash as a gift choice. The average value of gift vouchers is reported to be €38, a drop in value from previous years. This is roughly half of that of Switzerland where the average gift voucher comes in at €70.

Consumers across the board will become more cash savvy this year with unnecessary spending being once again cut by both Irish and European consumers. 22% of Irish respondents will focus on buying more gifts that are on sale, while 56% of Irish consumers will actively buy less on impulse. Irish women plan to take more advantage of sales this Christmas, with 25% of women intending buy more discounted items compared to 18% of men.

It is also reported that Irish consumers are spending less than Europeans on entertainment, leisure, clothing and day to day spending. With many of those surveyed saying that if required to they are happy to cut back further on these areas.

41% of Irish consumers have a positive outlook on the expected state of the economy in the coming year. This is a change from last year when 49% of Europeans thought the expected state of the economy would be negative. The majority of Europeans now believe that the economy will stay the same or improve over the coming year.