Christmas shopping is often at the forefront of people's minds in the run up to the festive season, but this year consumers in the UK are predicted to plan their purchases even earlier than usual.
The prediction has been made by retail information specialist Verdict, which carried out an online survey on 10,000 UK consumers in October. The results found that 25% of UK shoppers are planning to make their Christmas purchases earlier this year compared with 2013.
Verdict analyst Kate Ormrod said: “While many consumers have previously held out for deeper discounts in the run up to Christmas, this year they are more confident than ever that discounts will come through earlier, such as those on Black Friday, resulting in spend being brought forward.”
Although this forecast looks promising for retailers, their interest lies in the figures – and it looks set to be good news. The survey predicts that shoppers will hand over an extra £2.3bn this year, compared with 2013 – a rise of 2.6%, reaching £90.7bn. Specifically, it is expected shoppers will spend £53.6bn on non-food items, which would include cosmetics and personal care products.
In particlar, online retailing will play a key role this year making up £13bn of sales, with the click & collect category accounting for £1.6bn of online sales.
