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Spaniards plan their Christmas shopping for 'Black Friday', says study
14/11/2018
SPANISH households are bringing their Christmas shopping forward to November for the first time in consumer history, in order to take advantage of 'Black Friday' deals, according to financial consultants Deloitte.
Its Christmas Consumerism Study 2018 shows that festive shopping in November is now overtaking that which is carried out in December, an unprecedented situation in a country which, traditionally, does not even think about Christmas until it is a few days away.
'Festive fever' has changed considerably in the last decade or so, with supermarkets already stocking Christmas confectionary as early as mid-October whereas, at the beginning of the 21st century, no sign that the holiday season was imminent could be found until at least the middle of December.
And with 'Black Friday' having been imported from the USA in the last three years, two-thirds of Spanish respondents, or 33.1%, say they will be doing their Christmas shopping in November, with 11.3% buying the majority of their presents on November 23, when online and physical stores will slash their prices for 24 hours.
This is the first time ever that more Christmas shopping is expected to be done before December than during it – a total of 30.3% said they would do most of their shopping in the first two weeks of next month, whilst 17.9% said they would leave it right until the last minute.
Over three-quarters, or 77% of consumers said they would definitely make a purchase or two on 'Black Friday', and 28% expected to spend over a third of their Christmas budget on that day alone.
Last year, just 8.7% bought the bulk of their presents on Black Friday.
Deloitte's research shows that the average household unit in Spain will spend €601 this Christmas, mostly on gifts, food and drink, being a hike of 2.7% on last year when the average family spent €585.
They expect to spend the same as last year - €241 – on presents, plus €173 on food compared with €165 in 2017, up by 4.8%, and €82 on entertainment, up 7.8% on last year's €76.
Travelling costs will increase very little, by 1.9% from €103 to €105, normally the price of making the journey to the family nest or going away for the festive season.
In Europe as a whole, only UK families expect to spend more on Christmas than those in Spain, where 73.7% of consumers believe the financial situation has either improved or remained stable in 2018.
Spain is one of Europe's most optimistic countries in terms of its economy, with positive perceptions being 7% higher than the average for the continent, although down from 12% higher last year.
For the first time, Spaniards no longer put 'money' at the top of their Christmas present list – this has been relegated to second overall; third for women but still number one for men.
Instead, clothing is the most-hoped for gift among Spaniards across the board, although specifically for women, who put books second.
Books rank third overall, although men rank clothes second and holidays third.
Clothes, books and cosmetics continue to be among the top presents that will be bought this Christmas in Spain, with electronics losing ground – SmartPhones and Tablets have dropped out of the top 10 for adults, but remain firmly within it for children and teenagers.
Video games come out top for teens, but sixth for adults.
Teenagers have shown a sharp rise in preference for sports clothing as presents, with this rising from 10th to fifth place in a year.
Educational or building games and toys, and clothes, remain top for younger children, and 'experimenting' games have reached number nine, the first time these have entered the top 10 list.
As for payment methods when shopping for presents and food for Christmas, Spaniards have started to use mobile phone Apps more, particularly for entertainment, beauty and books.
Overall, debit cards are the most popular form of payment either online or in person in shops, overtaking cash as Spain rapidly moves away from its historic cash-oriented society.
Physical shops remain the top choice for food, clothing and sports gear, whilst online shops have fallen slightly from favour but are mainly used for buying tangible goods.
Food, especially along Spain's coasts, is mostly centred on seafood at Christmas – several different types of prawns are served up along with cheesy nibbles on Christmas Eve night when the family gathers to celebrate, usually with the King's speech on the TV.
More and more families exchange gifts on Christmas Eve night as Santa Claus has become 'trendy' among children in Spain in the last decade or so, but giving presents on the night of the Three Kings, or January 5, continues to dominate, especially with children and particularly in families with a more traditional outlook.
The seafood dinner tradition is shown in the above photograph, a very typical Christmas shopping scene in coastal Spain.
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SPANISH households are bringing their Christmas shopping forward to November for the first time in consumer history, in order to take advantage of 'Black Friday' deals, according to financial consultants Deloitte.
Its Christmas Consumerism Study 2018 shows that festive shopping in November is now overtaking that which is carried out in December, an unprecedented situation in a country which, traditionally, does not even think about Christmas until it is a few days away.
'Festive fever' has changed considerably in the last decade or so, with supermarkets already stocking Christmas confectionary as early as mid-October whereas, at the beginning of the 21st century, no sign that the holiday season was imminent could be found until at least the middle of December.
And with 'Black Friday' having been imported from the USA in the last three years, two-thirds of Spanish respondents, or 33.1%, say they will be doing their Christmas shopping in November, with 11.3% buying the majority of their presents on November 23, when online and physical stores will slash their prices for 24 hours.
This is the first time ever that more Christmas shopping is expected to be done before December than during it – a total of 30.3% said they would do most of their shopping in the first two weeks of next month, whilst 17.9% said they would leave it right until the last minute.
Over three-quarters, or 77% of consumers said they would definitely make a purchase or two on 'Black Friday', and 28% expected to spend over a third of their Christmas budget on that day alone.
Last year, just 8.7% bought the bulk of their presents on Black Friday.
Deloitte's research shows that the average household unit in Spain will spend €601 this Christmas, mostly on gifts, food and drink, being a hike of 2.7% on last year when the average family spent €585.
They expect to spend the same as last year - €241 – on presents, plus €173 on food compared with €165 in 2017, up by 4.8%, and €82 on entertainment, up 7.8% on last year's €76.
Travelling costs will increase very little, by 1.9% from €103 to €105, normally the price of making the journey to the family nest or going away for the festive season.
In Europe as a whole, only UK families expect to spend more on Christmas than those in Spain, where 73.7% of consumers believe the financial situation has either improved or remained stable in 2018.
Spain is one of Europe's most optimistic countries in terms of its economy, with positive perceptions being 7% higher than the average for the continent, although down from 12% higher last year.
For the first time, Spaniards no longer put 'money' at the top of their Christmas present list – this has been relegated to second overall; third for women but still number one for men.
Instead, clothing is the most-hoped for gift among Spaniards across the board, although specifically for women, who put books second.
Books rank third overall, although men rank clothes second and holidays third.
Clothes, books and cosmetics continue to be among the top presents that will be bought this Christmas in Spain, with electronics losing ground – SmartPhones and Tablets have dropped out of the top 10 for adults, but remain firmly within it for children and teenagers.
Video games come out top for teens, but sixth for adults.
Teenagers have shown a sharp rise in preference for sports clothing as presents, with this rising from 10th to fifth place in a year.
Educational or building games and toys, and clothes, remain top for younger children, and 'experimenting' games have reached number nine, the first time these have entered the top 10 list.
As for payment methods when shopping for presents and food for Christmas, Spaniards have started to use mobile phone Apps more, particularly for entertainment, beauty and books.
Overall, debit cards are the most popular form of payment either online or in person in shops, overtaking cash as Spain rapidly moves away from its historic cash-oriented society.
Physical shops remain the top choice for food, clothing and sports gear, whilst online shops have fallen slightly from favour but are mainly used for buying tangible goods.
Food, especially along Spain's coasts, is mostly centred on seafood at Christmas – several different types of prawns are served up along with cheesy nibbles on Christmas Eve night when the family gathers to celebrate, usually with the King's speech on the TV.
More and more families exchange gifts on Christmas Eve night as Santa Claus has become 'trendy' among children in Spain in the last decade or so, but giving presents on the night of the Three Kings, or January 5, continues to dominate, especially with children and particularly in families with a more traditional outlook.
The seafood dinner tradition is shown in the above photograph, a very typical Christmas shopping scene in coastal Spain.
Related Topics
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