Forty-four percent of Brits intend to have their Christmas shopping done before Black Friday and 48% expect to spend none of their Christmas budget during the sales this year, according to a new nationally representative survey of 2000 UK adults, commissioned by the IPA and carried out by Opinium.
Detailed in the new IPA Insight report Christmas amidst the Crunch, the findings show that the first half of November (19%) and September-October (17%) will be the most popular times for Christmas shopping, followed by the first week of December (15%) and the second half of November (13%). Only 16% of people still plan to be shopping in the second week of December and beyond, while 8% of Brits intend to have their shopping completed by the end of August.
Just under a quarter (23%) of people are looking to do the majority of their shopping in-store and 29% of adults intend to do their shopping entirely. 18-24s are most likely to shop in-store (28%) while 45-54s are most likely to shop exclusively online (34%).
In addition to looking at shopping plans and habits, Christmas amidst the Crunch, explores what people are hoping to give and receive, general feelings and worries for the Christmas period and attitudes to the FIFA World Cup taking place this winter.
Key findings include:
- More than half (53%) of us think it will be a stressful Christmas due to the cost-of-living crisis, while a further 37% believe it will be stressful due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine
- Almost a quarter (23%) of adults are planning on gifting cash, with a further 46% considering it as a gift-giving option this year
- 40% of Brits plan to be more sustainable this Christmas, up from 36% in 2021
- 11% of adults are planning to give a zero-waste gift, with a 39% considering the option.
- 34% of people are considering gifting a charity donation, with 11% already planning to do so
- More than half of 18-24-year-olds would be pleased to ‘unwrap’ an NFT (51%) or cryptocurrency (55%) this Christmas
- 38% of adults believe that the World Cup will dominate the Christmas build-up this year while the same percentage (38%) also agree that the timing will prove to be an inconvenience.
- 36% of Londoners believe that the World Cup will give them inspiration for buying Christmas gifts
Says Damian Lord, Head of Insight, IPA:"With a winter World Cup, the aftermath of the COVID pandemic and the ongoing cost of living crisis, Christmas 2022 is going to like no other. There’s an understandable belt-tightening across the board but people are still looking for interesting and imaginative gifts and ways to spread goodwill with their loved ones."
Christmas amidst the Crunch shows that there are plenty of opportunities for advertisers to make a splash with consumers, and will help brands and agencies capture the mood of the nation in the build-up to Christmas.
The report is based on findings from a nationally representative survey commissioned by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), among a sample of 2,000 UK adults aged 18+. The research was undertaken by Opinium and fielded between the 24th of June and the 2nd of July 2022.
Last updated 01 May 2024