The Christmas season is just around the corner and so is that Christmas business has already started. Many people are planning a smaller budget for Christmas presents this year than in 2022, according to a survey by the price comparison platform Idealo in collaboration with the market research company Kantar, which was published on Monday.
Ongoing international crises and the still high inflation are also pressing in the run-up to Christmas Buying mood of the Germans. This is confirmed by the results of Idealo’s Christmas survey, in which 2,010 people between the ages of 18 and 64 in Germany were surveyed in the period from October 24th. 2023 was carried out until November 2nd, 2023.
Even though 65 percent of those surveyed include gifts for Christmas, Germans are budgeting less this year. They want to spend an average of 278 euros on Christmas presents. At 32 percent, around a third of those surveyed have less budget than last year. 60 percent want to spend the same amount of money as they would in 2022. For 49 percent of survey participants, the reason for the smaller budget is the generally higher costs. For almost half of the 2,000 respondents, the overall financial situation has worsened.
Fashion on the wish list
But what do Germans want for Christmas? According to the survey, cash gifts and vouchers are at the top of the respondents’ wish list at 25 percent, followed by cosmetics and perfume in second place and joint activities in third place. Clothing and shoes are in fourth place on the respondents’ wish list at 16 percent.
Like last year Second-hand gifts continue to be on the rise. Around 57 percent of those surveyed said they were also happy about used gifts. There are clear generational differences when it comes to second-hand gifts: While 45 percent of Gen Z respondents would also be happy to receive used clothing, the figure for other generations is only 29 percent or less. Books, furnishings, electrical appliances and games are more popular here.