People in the North-West will spend £2.93 billion on Christmas presents, buying 87.2 million gifts for the big day.
According to new research from marketing technology experts RadiumOne, those in the North-West will spend more money (£510.14) on more presents (buying 15.2) for more people (8.9) compared to the average across Britain (£489.04 on 14.8 presents for 8.3 people). The 8.9 people on their Christmas shopping list is the most in Britain – along with people in the East Midlands and East of England.
Clothes (59%), entertainment gifts (54%), and toys (48%) will be the North-West’s most popular gifts purchased.
When it comes to gift-buying, the vast majority of people in the North-West intend to avoid the high street altogether. Among those who know how they’ll buy their Christmas gifts, less than one in seven (13%) will do both their research and shopping in-store.
The most popular method of shopping is to do both research and buying online (43%).
Nearly two in five (37%) are still to decide whether to do their gift research and shopping online or on the high street, with deals (77%), convenience (56%) and time (40%) the biggest deciding factors. Deals are a bigger factor in the North-West than any other region.
Online Christmas shoppers in the North-West are the most likely (25%), by far, to use a tablet to buy gifts – ahead of the West Midlands (18%) – and twice as likely to do so as the average Briton (13%).
However, people in the North-West are much less likely (10%) than the average Briton (17%) to use a mobile phone to buy gifts. Desktop computers remain the region’s most popular device (69%) to buy gifts. Just under one in seven (13%) will use at least two devices to buy gifts.
People in the North West are more likely (84%) than the average Briton (79%) to send physical cards, and are 8.4 times more likely to send physical cards than e-cards (10%).
“Christmas is, by far, the biggest sharing event of the year and technology has added considerable fuel to the fire, particularly by tablets in the North-West,” says Rupert Staines, RadiumOne’s European Managing Director. “The internet and connected devices have made it much easier for people to research and buy gifts. Thus, it’s a major factor in the large amount being spent on presents across such a wide set of people.”