Webloyalty UK Christmas Retail Research

WEBLOYALTY & CONLUMINO
LOOKING AHEAD…
CHRISTMAS SPENDING &
TRENDS IN THE UK
NOVEMBER 2014

Introduction
Looking ahead ... Christmas 2014
This research has been commissioned by Webloyalty to provide retailers with
insight into the current trading environment as well as some more specific insight
around Christms trading.
About Webloyalty
Webloyalty is a leading reward programme provider working with major online retailers to help them
build stronger, more profitable relationships with their customers. Through our membership
programmes we help our online retail partners’ customers save hundreds of pounds a year while
providing the partner with an additional revenue stream. As well as incentivising customers to make
repeat purchases at the partner’s site, members can also earn cashback and get great deals on everything
from fashion to electronics to travel at hundreds of top online stores.
Webloyalty was established in the UK in 2007 and has since expanded into France, Spain, Ireland, Brazil,
the Netherlands and Turkey.
About Conlumino
Conlumino is a retail research agency and consulting firm. Our work focuses on all aspects of retailing
and consumer behaviour, which we deliver through bespoke reports, projects and presentations. We
work with many of the world’s leading retailers, property firms and those in the financial sector to help
them maximize success through developing a thorough understanding of the sector and its likely future
performance.
Webloyalty
2nd Floor, 2 Harewood Place, London W1S 1BX
+44 (0)20 7290 1650
enquiries@webloyalty.co.uk
www.webloyalty.co.uk
© 2014 Webloyalty & Conlumino
enquiries@webloyalty.co.uk | +44 (0)20 7290 1650
Conlumino
7 Carmelite Street, London EC4Y 0BS
+44 (0)20 7936 6654
hello@conlumino.com
www.conlumino.com
Foreword

Christmas
Time commitment
The average consumer will spend around 10 hours on Christmas-related shopping activities, with a committed
4.5% spending more than 48 hours on shopping. The total budget will be an average of £433 with 6.6% budgeting
£1,000 or more.
Summary
A sparkly Christmas
While Christmas won’t be as lucrative as it was during the heady days before the economic downturn, we expect
spending to sparkle this festive season with total growth of 2.7%. However, the spoils will not be evenly
distributed with food and grocery struggling on a 1.5% increase. Spending on gifts will see an uplift of 3.3%.
We’re dreaming of … a traditional Christmas
Spending to one side, most of us will celebrate Christmas Day in a fairly traditional way with 64% having a festive
meal with family, 61% watching the television, and 60% opening presents. Only 14% plan to listen to the Queen’s
speech and 12% will use the day as an excuse for a lie-in. A small 1.6% will catch up on housework.
Getting out the games
12% of us will be playing board games on Christmas Day. Our favourites include: card games (played by 9%),
Trivial Pursuit (7%), Monopoly (7%), Scrabble (6%), and Charades (4%).
Season’s greetings
While many things have gone digital, 66% of us plan to send only printed Christmas cards, compared to just 3%
who say they will only send e-cards. The average consumer is planning to send 27 cards this Christmas.
The festive table
Almost half of us plan to spend £9.99 or less per head on the Christmas meal and most of us (67%) will do our
shopping in physical stores. 81% will eat roast potatoes for Christmas dinner, 65% roast turkey and 65% stuffing.
5% will have steak.

Christmas
2013 spending
In 2013 we spent £15.662bn on Christmas
Breakdown of 2013 Christmas spending
Total Christmas spending
£15.662bn
Gifts
£8.684bn
Food and drink
£5.182bn
Seasonal non-food
£1.796bn

Christmas
2014 spending
This year we will spend just over £16bn on Christmas, up 2.7%
Breakdown of 2014 Christmas spending
Total Christmas spending
£16.080bn
Gifts
£8.969bn
Food and drink
£5.261bn
Seasonal non-food
£1.850bn
Gifts
Up 3.3%
Food and drink
Up 1.5%
Seasonal non-food
Up 3.0%

Christmas
Having lunch with the family, watching TV and opening presents are
the most popular things to do on Christmas Day
Christmas Day
What will you be doing on Christmas Day this year?
All figures are percentages
64.3 61.4 59.7
43.7
31.0
23.5
14.4 12.2 11.9 11.7 11.3 7.7 7.6 5.4 2.9 2.4 2.3 1.6
Have
Christmas
lunch with my
family
Watch TV Open presents Prepare and
cook
Christmas
dinner
Watch films Go out for a
walk
Listen to or
watch the
Queen’s
speech
Play board
games
Have a lie-in Listen to the
radio
Spend time
with my
friends
Have
Christmas
lunch with my
inlaws
Go to
midnight mass
or a church
service
Play
computer
games
Abroad on
holiday
Work Wrap presents
that I put off
wrapping
before
Catch up on
the housework

Christmas
Cards
Charades
The games we will play
9.0%
Trivial Pursuit
7.4%
Monopoly
6.8%
Scrabble
5.9%
4.1%
Pictionary
2.6%
Cluedo
2.1%
What games, if any, will you play on Christmas Day?

Jumpers
Page
8
Christmas
Just under three-quarters say that presents are an essential
purchase; while over half say cards are still essential
Presents
Cards
Essential purchases
What are your essential Christmas purchases?
70.5%
57.3%
Chocolates
45.5%
Biscuits
29.7%
Fruit
28.8%
Nuts
27.8%
Alcohol
25.5%
Decorations
18.1%
Champagne
10.2%
3.6%

Christmas
Those who buy gifts will spend an average of £288 on them
Spending
How much will you spend on Christmas gifts?
17.2%
will spend
under £100
15.0%
will spend
£100-£149.99
13.9%
will spend
£150-£199.99
15.7%
will spend
£200-£299.99
11.5%
will spend
£300-£399.99
8.5%
will spend
£400-499.99
11.6%
will spend
£500+
6.6% say that they will spend nothing on Christmas gifts this year

Christmas
The majority plan to spend more or the same as they did last year
Change in spending
How does your planned spending on Christmas gifts compare to last year?
Plan to spend more than
last year
Plan to spend less than last
year
Did not buy last year and
will not buy this year
Plan to spend about the
same as last year
8.3% 66.1% 21.5% 4.1%

Christmas
The majority of people will use both online and stores
Both online and
in store
66.8%
How we will shop
How will you shop for Christmas this year?
In store
only
16.8%
h
Numbers may not sum to 100%; residuals are accounted for by those saying ‘don’t know’.
w
Online only,
while at work
1.1%
Online only,
while at home
11.4%
h+w
Online only, at
work and home
3.8%

Christmas
The vast majority are still planning on sending printed cards
Printed
only
66.5% 15.5% 15.0% 3.0%
Sending cards
Are you planning to send printed or online Christmas cards this year?
Online
only
Online and
printed
Don’t plan to send
any

Christmas
On average we will send 27 Christmas cards each
Sending cards
How many cards do you plan to send this Christmas?
1-10
17.0%
11-20
27.2%
21-30
21.3%
31-40
13.3%
41-50
8.8%
51-60
5.5%
61-70
2.6%
71-80
1.8%
81-90
0.7%
91+
1.8%

Christmas
Almost half spend £9.99 or less per head on the Christmas meal
Spending on the meal
How much do you typically spend on your Christmas meal per head?
19.7%
will spend
under £4.99
28.9%
will spend
£5 -£9.99
24.7%
will spend
£10-£14.99
11.9%
will spend
£15-£19.99
7.3%
will spend
£20-£24.99
3.3%
will spend
£25-£29.99
4.2%
will spend
£30+

Christmas
Most consumers prefer to do their food shopping in store
No Not yet decided
66.5% 14.2% 12.0% 7.3%
Online food shopping
Are you doing your food shopping online this Christmas?
Combination of online and Yes
in-store
?

Christmas
Why we buy food online
Saving time and convenience are the main reasons for buying online
63.2
43.2
36.8 33.5
19.4
9.7
It saves time It’s more convenient to have
my food shopping delivered
to my door
I dislike shopping in store
during the Christmas period
It works out cheaper I can buy products otherwise
difficult to buy in store
I can guarantee that I will get
the items I want
Why do you buy food online?

Christmas
Over a third plan to use Tesco for their Christmas grocery shop
Where we’ll shop
Which of the following retailers are you planning to use for your Christmas
food and grocery shopping this year?
37.9
28.8 28.2
19.6 19.2 18.8
14.9 14.8
9.4
6.2 5.3
2.9
1.3 1.2 0.6 0.4 0.2
Tesco Sainsbury’s Asda Morrisons Aldi Marks &
Spencer
Iceland Lidl Waitrose Other Coop Farmfoods Ocado Thorntons Booths Majestic Netto

Christmas
Roast potatoes are a favourite with 8 out of 10 eating them
What we’ll eat
Which foods do you usually eat as part of your Christmas meal?
80.9
65.4 64.9
57.3
49.3
43.7 43.4
37.3
27.7
16.1 15.3 14.2 14.2
8.8 5.6 4.8 4.1
Roast
potatoes
Stuffing Roast
turkey
Brussel
sprouts
Parsnips Mince pies Christmas
pudding
Cranberry
sauce
Christmas
cake
Bread sauce Roast
chicken
Brandy
cream
Roast ham Smoked
salmon
Nut roast Steak Roast goose

Christmas
On average consumers will spend 10 hours Christmas shopping
Time spent shopping
How many hours will you spend in total shopping for
both Christmas food and gifts?
6.2
21.0
16.8
11.9 11.8
7.8
4.3 2.9 1.8 3.0 3.3 4.5
< 1 hour 2-4 hours 4-6 hours 6-8 hours 8-10 hours 10-12 hours 12-14 hours 14-16 hours 16-18 hours 18-24 hours 24-48 hours > 48 hours

Christmas
The average consumer will spend £433 on all aspects of Christmas
Total budget
What is your total budget for Christmas?
16.5%
will spend
under £100
16.2%
will spend
£100-£199.99
17.2%
will spend
£200-299.99
13.8%
will spend
£300-£399.99
12.7%
will spend
£400-£499.99
17.0%
will spend
£500-£999.99
6.6%
will spend
£1,000+

Christmas
Almost half will not spend in the seasonal sales
The seasonal sales
When do you intend to take advantage of the seasonal sales?
49.6
13.9
3.0 4.2
9.7
18.7
3.0
15.7
7.9
I do not expect to
spend anything during
the sales
Before Christmas Eve Christmas Eve Online on Christmas
Day
Boxing Day 27th December – 31st
December
New Year’s day 2nd January – 10th
January
After the 10th January

Christmas
Almost a fifth will only shop online during the sales
Sales shopping
How will you shop during the seasonal sales?
Online
only
18.3%
Mainly
online
50.6%
Both online and
in store
31.1%
Which device or devices will you use to
make your purchases online? %
Desktop PC 43.3
Laptop 56.3
Tablet 18.7
Mobile 6.5
Internet-enabled TV 0.4
Other device 1.0

Christmas
Almost 25% will buy at least some presents during the sales period
Present buying in the sales
Will you hold off until the seasonal sales to buy Christmas presents?
Yes
5.4%
No
75.9%
Will buy some, but not all
presents in the sale
18.7%

Methodology
About the research

Methodology
Page
25
Methodology and sources
• A combination of consumer research, secondary research and market
forecasting was used to compile this report.
• Consumer research in this report is based on a survey conducted with a
nationally representative poll of UK consumers. Over 2,000
consumers were interviewed during October 2014 and questioned
about their views on Christmas and their likely shopping behaviour for
this event.
• All numbers relating to expenditure and forecast expenditure on
Christmas products are taken from Conlumino’s own retail model. This
is updated on an ongoing basis with inputs from official sources (such
as the BRC and ONS), retailers’ results and trading updates, other
secondary sources and industry surveys, Conlumino’s ongoing
programme of research into consumer spending and habits, and
underlying economic drivers and trends. Conlumino analysts both
model and interpret this information to provide guidance on the likely
future direction of retail expenditure at an overall, sector and category
level.
• Unless otherwise stated, all sources of information are derived from
Conlumino’s own research and should be referenced to Webloyalty/
Conlumino.

Conlumino
+44 (0)20 7936 6654
hello@conlumino.com
7 Carmelite Street, London EC4Y 0BS
Webloyalty
+44 (0)20 7290 1650
enquiries@webloyalty.co.uk
2nd Floor, 2 Harewood Place, London W1S 1BX

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