Year by year, Santa is becoming more generous in Poland. A Polish family will spend an average of PLN 1,521 on this holiday period, a Deloitte study says.
Christmas is a special time also for trade. As the 22nd edition of the international survey “Christmas shopping 2019” by Deloitte shows, this year Poles intend to spend an average of PLN 1,521 on gifts, food, travel and meetings with loved ones. It’s about 5% more than they spent a year ago.
The average for all surveyed countries is PLN 1,988, i.e., 3.3%, more than a year ago. In Poland, spending on groceries will increase primarily. The respondents estimate that they will spend 7.8% more on food compared to last year. In turn, spending on gifts will increase by 6.5%.
For another year in a row, Poles declare that they will spend a little more on gifts than on food. The first category will consume 36%. (PLN 547) for the Christmas budget, while on food 34% (PLN 524). They intend to spend PLN 324 and 126 respectively on travel and social events.
Poles tend to spend more on special offers (44%) and the fact that they have more funds than a year ago (28%).
The Christmas wallet is getting thicker – Poles have been assessing the economic situation positively for another year in a row. As much as 69% consider the current state of the economy to be satisfactory or neutral. In addition to Poland, above the European average optimism, which is 64%, are also the Dutch, German and Portuguese.
In our opinion, noticeable optimism is primarily due to the fact that Poles assess their financial capabilities as better and better. As much as 73% of respondents declare that their financial situation has improved or is at the same level as last year. Looking to the future, however, we can clearly see that the percentage of people who are optimistic about the Polish economy drops by 16 percentage points – says Jan Kisielewski, director in the strategy department of Deloitte.
Gifts no longer last minute
What gift do we expect to find under the Christmas tree? This year, as in previous years, these are primarily cosmetics and perfumes. Books and chocolates were also on the podium. A year earlier, the order between these two categories was the opposite.
And what gifts are we going to give to loved ones? First of all, they will be cosmetics and perfumes, as well as books. Just behind them are sweets. Among the gifts bought for teenagers, books, chocolates and computer games dominate. Gifts most often bought for children include construction toys, creative and artistic toys, dolls and plush toys.
The largest group, 38% of respondents will go for gifts between December 1 and December 15. One-fifth of purchasers will abstain until almost the last days before Christmas Eve. In turn, a quarter of the gifts will be bought then, or bought in November.
Although December is still the favourite month for Christmas shopping, a large proportion of Poles plan to shop earlier. This seems logically related to the fact that the pool of Christmas shopping online is growing, which after purchase must reach buyers by courier.
Black Friday, a new event in the Poles’ shopping calendar, is gaining popularity every year. However, this is not the main opportunity for Christmas shopping, which may be due to the fact that the key criterion for choosing a gift is not a promotional price – says Agnieszka Szapiel, a manager in the consulting department at Deloitte.
A festive atmosphere in stationary stores
Expenses in the offline channel account for the majority of Poles’ holiday budget (68%), while they increased by 6.1% compared to last year. For comparison, the average for all countries surveyed is 2.6%
In turn, e-commerce in Poland is growing more slowly than in the rest of the countries surveyed (2.7% vs 4.8%). It accounts for 32%, with all holiday spending in Europe, increasing by around 5% compared to last year.
We mainly look for gift inspirations on the Internet (49%). 40% of us use so-called word of mouth marketing from family, friends and neighbours. 38% also look for ideas in traditional stores. 36% of respondents directly ask their loved ones what they would like to receive.
Those for whom the Internet is the main source of ideas for gifts, primarily use search engines and comparison websites (48%), online stores (46%) and websites of specific brands (44%).
This year, although half of the respondents will go to stationary stores for gifts, it will be 8 percentage points less than a year ago.
One-third of Poles decide to buy presents in online stores, but also those with stationary branches, and 28% in e-commerce platforms. The role of mobile channels is growing. 37% of respondents will use a smartphone or tablet to buy gifts. That’s 10% more than a year ago.
We are mostly convinced about online shopping because:
– home delivery (62%),
– wide range (the fact that we have no sense of loss of time (58%),
– possibility of easy price comparison (57%).
In turn, we consider the biggest advantage of traditional shopping to be:
– immediate pick-up of the purchased product (77%),
– exchange and return policy (76%),
– personal data protection (75%),
– the opportunity to get professional advice from the seller (74%).
In stationary stores, we intend to pay for Christmas purchases with a payment card (66%) and cash (53%). In turn, in online stores, we will most often choose a card and digital wallets (40% each).
The entire report can be downloaded from www.deloitte.com after registration.
About the study
The online survey was conducted between September 16 and October 11, 2019 among nearly 7.2 thousand. respondents between 18 and 65 years old. This year’s edition analyses data derives from Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom.