Consumers in the UK, Spain, and Italy are likely to spend the most this Christmas, according to the latest Deloitte Xmas Survey.
The 22nd edition of the study comprised of 7,000 respondents in eight European countries, who shared their estimates on expenditure in gifts, food, leisure activities, and travel.
Country-Wise Rankings
The UK emerged, once again, as the country with the highest Christmas spending estimate, of around €639 per household this year, down by 1% compared to 2018.
Second in the list was Spain, with an expenditure estimate of €554 per household for Christmas, down 7.6% compared to 2018.
Italy placed third, with each household intending to spend €549 on an average this year, up 1.2% year-on-year.
Germany followed in fourth, with an estimated expenditure of €487 per household (+2.3%), while Portugal emerged fifth with €387 (-1%).
Russia secured sixth position with the highest year-on-year increase in estimated Christmas budget of 29%, amounting to €367 per household.
The countries with the lowest budgets per household, among the eight surveyed, were Poland with €352 (+9.7% year-on-year) and the Netherlands with €341 (+6% year-on-year).
Gift Choices
Books emerged as the most desired gift in Italy as well as Europe. Money, travel, beauty care, massage treatments, and clothes were the top five preferred gifts for Italian consumers.
For the rest of Europe, chocolates and cosmetics replaced travel, beauty care, and massage in the top five.
Some 43% of European consumers stated that they preferred speciality chains for buying Christmas gifts, while 40% opted for supermarkets and hypermarkets.
In Italy, traditional local shops are the first choice for consumers, followed by speciality chains and hypermarkets and supermarkets, in particular for food and drinks.
Italians are likely to spend 7% more than the EU average of €131 per family for food, the study highlighted.
Two other emerging trends include an increasing preference for authentic Italian products, and a growing interest in farmers' markets.
Online Vs Offline
Italians were more inclined to shop offline for Christmas with 68% shopping through traditional channels, the study revealed.
Online estimates for Christmas-related shopping in the country remained stable compared to last year, with an average expense of €177.
The online channel already represents 32% of total Christmas spending in Italy, which is the same as the European average, the study pointed out.
© 2019 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Branislav Pekic. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
