By Daniel Hunter
Consumers plan to spend an average of £488 each this Christmas — a fall of 7% compared with 2012 according to research from HSBC. Last year the average spend was £526.
The HSBC Christmas Spending Survey 2013 found people will spend an average of £336 on presents this year and £152 on food, drink and entertainment. Women will spend more than men on presents, while men will spend more on food and drink.
Just 15% of people stick to a budget over Christmas. Fifty eight per cent set a budget but don’t stick to it, and 27% set no limit and just spend as much as it costs, which suggests even though shoppers hope to spend less this, they may well be tempted by must-have purchases or extra gifts.
Christmas Savings
Despite the majority not setting a budget, most people are looking to save some money this Christmas. Two thirds plan to shop around more to try to find the best bargains this Christmas and almost half plan to use retailer reward points (45%) or discount vouchers (44%). Around one in seven (15%) will cut people off the present list, but a more popular way of saving money is not sending as many Christmas cards (23%).
Financing Christmas
The most common way to fund Christmas is from people’s salaries (70%), and 5% more people will use their salary this year compared with last year. However, 22% of people will borrow money, up from 17% in 2012. The most common forms of borrowing are credit cards and overdraft.
