Battle of gift giving this Christmas
Survey sheds some interesting light on buying habits of the sexes this year
With Christmas less than five weeks away art buying website, www.art2arts.co.uk has released the results of a festive shopping habit survey targeting men and women in the UK. The survey of 400 people, questioned them on their Christmas shopping habits including what time of year they start their shopping, average spend and how many people they buy presents for. It also asked if they intended to spend more this Christmas and if they felt they spent money on unnecessary presents.
According to the survey, men are more likely to leave their shopping to the last minute with nearly 50% not finishing their shopping until the week before whereas near a third of all women have their shopping done by late November. A staggering 20% of all men leave their shopping right until the last minute and buying key presents on the three days before with 5% buying on Christmas Eve. Men will spend more on gifts whilst women will buy presents for more recipients. The majority of people will spend between £500 and £690 on their presents. More women than men said they felt they bought unnecessary gifts and men said they often bought a gift back for someone because they had received one first. Interestingly people said they would be spending less on people this year.
Key findings
- Most people start their Christmas shopping between October – November
- Men are more likely to leave their shopping to the ‘last minute’ whereas some women will shop as early as July and two even started in the January sales.
- More women enjoy the experience of Christmas shopping while over 50% of men described it as a chore
- Most gifters will buy presents for between 10 and 18 people
- Presents for children account for the majority of a person’s Christmas budget
- Men spend more on their partners but women buy more presents in general
- The majority of people spend between £500-£700 on presents
- Up to 60% of people fail to stick to their Christmas budget with many going over by up to 25%
- 75% admit to buying unnecessary presents for colleagues and friends
- 20% of people admitted buying a present for a colleague just because that colleague had bought them one first
- 76% of people said they would be spending less this year
Ann Carver, Author and speaker on Emotional Money Management has some useful tips for shoppers. She says, “We set good rational intentions for present buying early on, but then when the countdown to Christmas comes it’s easy to get swept up in the hype and forget to stay on track. Decide how much you are going to spend and put this in a separate account. See yourself staying on track and enjoy what you are intending to spend. I have been doing this and can honestly say I enjoy Christmas so much more’ especially the other aspects such as the family time, the love for cooking, plus it rubs off on others eventually. This year my daughter is at Uni and feels less pressured because we have all agreed to be savvy and not spend unnecessarily.”
Survey Author, Art2Arts Founder, Michelle Gibbs says: “Christmas can be a stressful time of year for people and whilst some enjoy the whole process, others don’t, but whether you’re an early bird buyer or a last minute shopper you need to remember that it’s the thought that counts. Try and buy something meaningful to that person whether it’s £5 on luxury soap or £100 on a piece of artwork, it shouldn’t be about how much you spend but the thought you’ve put into it.”
For more information visit: www.art2arts.co.uk