New research from YouGov suggests UK households will spend £822 on Christmas this year, an increase of £54 on last year.
The Christmas spending intentions survey suggests the UK’s total intended festive spend will be around £22.3 billion. YouGov’s preliminary figures show households expect to splash out £599 on gifts, an increase of 5.8% on 2012. The survey also found that the average proposed food and drink spend will be £180 (an 11.6% increase on last year) and £43 on cards, trees and decorations (a rise of 6.6% on the previous Christmas).
The research finds that while wealthier people plan to increase their spending on gifts by +10.1%, the less well-off expect to see their expenditure on presents fall by -2.2%. People in the ABC1 demographic say the amount they put towards gifts will go up from £308 last year to £339 in 2013 while those classified as C2DE think their spending on presents will fall from £282 in 2012 to £276 this year.
The increase in festive spending comes following a surge in consumer confidence during 2013. The YouGov/Cebr Consumer Confidence Index – based on YouGov’s Household Economic Activity Tracking (HEAT) data – has increased for ten months in a row and it now stands 15 points higher than at the start of the year.
James McCoy, Research Director at YouGov, says: “Although these are preliminary figures it seems clear that households are approaching Christmas with more economic optimism than last year. This renewed consumer confidence looks set to translate to an increase in festive spending, especially when it comes to gifts and food and drink. However, it would be wrong to suggest this boost will be felt across the board. Less well-off households say they will spend a lot less than wealthier ones on presents and their outlay on gifts is set to be lower than it was last year. We should note, however, that actual spend out-stripped intended spend last year and the same thing may well happen again in the run-up to this Christmas.”
