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  • December 19, 2022
  • < 1 min read

Christmas industry insights: O’ Holy Insight!

Each month we use our amazing platform and insight team to take a deep-dive into a different industry or topic to understand current trends and what’s driving consumer behaviour. This month it’s Christmas. Register to download the full PDF below and keep up to date on our content, including more industry insights, downloadable ebooks and reports, webinars & more…

Download now

After two years of celebrations overshadowed by Covid-19, we were interested to see what’s changing (or not!) this Christmas

Christmas has long been a time for people to come together, get into the festive spirit with family and friends and eat copious amounts of food. However, traditions were turned upside down for many during the Covid-19 pandemic and this year people are now faced with rising cost of living challenges. Because of all this change we were interested to find out what Brits’ festive and gifting plans are for Christmas 2022.

What we’re seeing

Spending time with family is one of the most important things about Christmas. This year, people are hoping to spend more time with their family and friends, when compared to 2021. However, many are cutting back on the Christmas parties they plan to attend.

  • 64% say “Spending time with family and friends is the most important thing about the festive period.”

“I’ll be seeing more of family and friends than I’ve been able to do for the past two years due to COVID restrictions.”
Female 65-54

“We’ll be having a big family get together as we could not do this last year.”
Male 65+

  • 24% plan to spend more time with family.
  • 18% plan to spend more time with friends.
  • 23% plan to be going to Christmas parties less.

Christmas dinner symbolises this togetherness

  • 60% will be eating turkey this Christmas

“A turkey roast dinner, it’s very special as it’s really the only time we eat as a family, and the only time of the year we eat turkey.”
Female 55-64

“I love having my grandchildren come on Christmas Eve and help me make things for Christmas dinner.”
Female 55-64

“For me what makes Christmas special is gathering with all the family after breakfast with the smell of turkey cooking and all opening presents which the youngest hands out , we have 5 generations all together.”
Male 25-34

However, spend on gifts is likely to see a considerable drop this year, as people try to cut back. Gift buying is also adding additional stress for many.

  • 55% say “I’ll be spending a lot less on gifts this Christmas.”
  • 30% say “Buying gifts for family/friends is stressful.”

Tell us about one thing you’ll be doing differently this Christmas…

“I’ll be spending less on presents and more time with people instead.”
Female 25-34

“We’ll be buying less food and presents because of the rising cost of living.”
Female 55-64

People are steering away from experienced-based gifts, with physical gifts proving more popular Sustainable gifts are a nice to have, but aren’t top of the agenda. Physical shops are as important for buying gifts as online retailers.

  • 46% say “I’d rather gift people physical items.”
    vs. 17% for experience-based gifts
  • 49% say “If the gifts I buy are sustainable that’s a bonus, but I won’t be looking out for it.”
    vs. 20% who are actively on the lookout for sustainable gifts
  • 29% say “I much prefer to head to physical shops for my Christmas shopping.”
    vs. 32% who prefer to shop online

Despite the cost of living crisis, people are still set to enjoy a wide range of festive activities

  • 56% plan to send Christmas cards via the post
  • 43% plan to do some festive baking
  • 24% will be wearing festive pyjamas
  • 21% will be drinking mulled wine

And many people have unique Christmas traditions which make this occasion even more special

Tell us about one Christmas tradition you love…

“Christmas Eve carols from King’s. And the Salvation Army playing carols in the High Street. It reminds me of my grandparents.”
Male 65+

“We always buy each other a Christmas tree bauble each year, over the decades we have all built up an eclectic collection.”
Male 55-64

“Eating chocolate for breakfast on Xmas day because it reminds me of childhood.”
Female 55-64

“Putting up the Christmas tree with the grandchildren seeing the smile on their faces.”
Male 65+

“Me and my mum always make homemade marzipan fruits and gingerbread cookies and I love it because we’ve been doing it since I was young.”
Female 25-34

Download ‘What’s happening in…Christmas’!

How can we help?

Understand the changing mindset of shoppers with Researchbods.

Our proprietary access panel SurveyBods can help to answer all your retail-related questions, and our insight community platform ex-plor has a wide-ranging toolkit to capture shopping behaviours and attitudes – from discussion rooms and diary studies to surveys.

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