Christmas is coming and this year the Spanish they plan to spend an average of € 258 on gifts, which represents an increase of almost 20 euros compared to last year’s expenditure (€ 240). This is one of the main conclusions of the European study on ‘Christmas consumption trends’, by eBay.
As the respondents themselves reveal, the trend to buy online will continue to rise. Half of Spaniards (51%) say that this year, compared to the previous one, they will make the same number of Christmas purchases through the computer, on online platforms such as eBay. While four out of ten believe that they will buy even more than last year online.
The little ones, the home winners
This year, each Spaniard plans to buy an average of 9 gifts for six people. And as the data from eBay’s 2021 Christmas trends study shows, the youngest members of the household continue to lead in the ranking of the people to whom the largest budget is allocated, with a total of € 164, followed by couples (€ 92) and parents (€ 66). Regarding the time that Spaniards spend choosing a gift, 30% affirm that it takes several days to decide. On the opposite side, 8% of respondents only need an hour to make a decision.
On the other hand, among the multiple emotions that Christmas generates, the results of the study confirm that for about half (43%) the most important cause of stress during these dates is the expenses derived from Christmas, followed by 25% who is overwhelmed by the lack of gift ideas or those who are overwhelmed by the number of social commitments they encounter, such as business dinners, various dinners with friends or even family.
Anticipation: key to consumption during these dates
One more year, November It was the month chosen by the Spanish to start their Christmas shopping. It is the quintessential month of great discounts and promotions that bring campaigns such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday and, this year, four out of five Spaniards have taken advantage of it to advance the search and purchase of the ideal gift. 43% have anticipated their purchases during this month and 35% will leave them for the month of December.
The habit of leaving last minute shopping (34%) is one of the obstacles that prevents finding gifts in advance, followed by lack of time (17%) or lack of discounts and offers in stores (16%). In the words of Francesca Di Nora, Marketing Manager for Cross-Border Markets in Europe at eBay: “An ideal way to save time and also be able to take advantage of very attractive offers and a unique inventory is to buy through e-commerce platforms such as eBay, on the that we facilitate the sale in a simple, secure way and from any device ”.
Local commerce, a firm bet
“Additionally, as a purpose-driven Marketplace, we aim to support the thousands of small business owners who sell through our platform. By not having our own inventory, we do not compete with our buyers. We simply connect them with more than 154 million shoppers around the world, so their small stores can continue to grow.”Explains Di Nora.
In fact, aware that Spain has not yet recovered the business fabric prior to the coronavirus crisis, respondents continue to show practically the same commitment and bet on local commerce. Thus, just over half of Spaniards (54%) are in favor of making their Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas purchases in an SME. This percentage varies by 2% (56%), compared to the same period last year.
