It’s going to be a tough Christmas for shoppers and retailers as rising costs and weak consumer confidence weigh on demand.
According to Savvy’s Shopper Panel data (October-November 2022), the majority of shoppers are planning to cut their spending this Christmas, with 70% of shoppers planning to cutback spending on gifts and 68% saying they will spend less on food and drinks during the festive period.
Savvy’s research highlights changing shopper behaviour, as people try to manage their budgets in the run-up to Christmas.
Our research suggests particularly difficult times for the hospitality sector, with 71% of shoppers planning to go out to pubs and restaurants less in order to save money for Christmas. While big planned get-togethers will tend to go-ahead, we anticipate shoppers will cut-back on more spontaneous trips to pubs and restaurants.
Many shoppers are altering their grocery shopping behaviours to help save money. 70% say they are saving up loyalty card points to reduce the cost of their main Christmas shop. 69% expect to spend more at discounters like Aldi and Lidl this Christmas, compared to last, while 1 in 5 of us plan to do our main Christmas shop at Aldi or Lidl.
As well as saving money, shoppers are looking for other ways to manage their budgets, for example 67% are starting to shop for presents earlier to help spread the cost of Christmas.
Savvy’s research suggests a record-breaking Black Friday event this year, with 48% of shoppers expecting to do more Christmas shopping on Black Friday. Already we see many retailers have launch Black Friday events early, to capture early Christmas spending and also to take advantage of demand of World Cup related purchases.
We are currently updating our point of view and outlook for the first quarter of 2023 and look forward to sharing that soon.
If you’re interested in this or any other part of a Savvy’s comprehensive shopper research programme, please get in touch.