UK's love of Christmas will manifest itself in massive festive spend

"On average a UK citizen will spend twice the amount of money on gifts as the average European...by the New Year the residents of the UK will be a total of 19.5 million stone heavier..."

By Warwickshire County Council economist Emily Newport

As Christmas fast approaches it can truly be said that, for businesses in the UK, it is ‘the most wonderful time of the year...on average a UK citizen will spend twice the amount of money on gifts as the average European.

Recent research by Experian suggests that, over Christmas, the average UK individual will spend £923 on food, alcohol and presents - a significant increase from £800 in 2015. Since 2015, the average Warwickshire resident has spent an additional 0.22% of their income as of 2017 on Christmas.

According to the Bank of England, in December we spend 16% more on food, 39% more on alcohol, 43% more on clothing, 56% more on toiletries, 68% more on computers and 116% more on Music & DVD’s. And Christmas spending doesn’t just start and end in the month of December. Deloitte suggests that up to 50% of UK consumers will start or complete their Christmas shopping during November.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are events made for the pre-Christmas bustle, for early birds to begin and end their Christmas shopping before December has even come around. Both in November, these events offer attractive promotions with a lot of retailers turning these single-day concepts in to week-long events. Although, in more recent times, the true ‘discount’ of these events in relation to other sales throughout the year has been questioned, with some arguing prices were lower at other times of the year. Deloitte said that of consumers who planned to buy during Black Friday, 45% intended to buy on their laptop/desktop - almost double the percentage of those who planned on going in store.

UK Consumers are statistically the most vigorous online shoppers in Europe with online shopping accounting for 18% of all retail sales in the UK. The down side of this influx in online shopping is that the British high street, in November, experienced its lowest shopper numbers since 2008, according to the BBC. This year the UK has seen some big retailers including, Mothercare, Carpetright, Maplin and Toy R Us (a go-to Christmas paradise for children) struggle to survive in the current economic conditions as Brexit uncertainty and online shopping convenience force store closures. Even big contenders Debenhams, John Lewis and House of Fraser have reported worries. In total, this puts 25,159 jobs at risk in 2018 due to retail difficulties.  Warwickshire itself has also seen a four-year increase in the number of business closures across the county.

In spite of the increased spending at Christmas, The Guardian adds that the UK high street is set to struggle more each Christmas as people increasingly buy tickets and experiences in oppose to the traditional Christmas presents to put under the tree.

However, at Christmas, the British consumer shows little hesitancy where food and alcohol concerned. During 2017 consumers spent an additional £1billion on groceries despite inflation surrounding Brexit, with Aldi and Lidl coming out on top. Tesco’s, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrison’s all experienced increased sales too, with Morrison’s also experiencing a 10% rise in online sales.

There is a further increase in spending for restaurants and bars as work Christmas parties, families get-togethers and friendly gatherings increase throughout December. In total the UK spend £2 billion on alcohol at Christmas over a combined 165 million visits to the pub. At home, the average adult has also spent a minimum of £45 to continue the party outside of the pub at Christmas, so it comes as no surprise to hear that adults consume roughly 18 units of alcohol on Christmas Day alone.

As the great Christmas lovers that we are, by the New Year the residents of the UK will be a total of 19.5 million stone heavier and, with one in ten reporting they would rather get in to debt than cut the Christmas budget, it is unsurprising that credit card bills are abnormally high - so maybe it is ‘the most wonderful time of the year’, until January comes around…