British are expected to shop less for Christmas this year, a new study found.
VoucherCodes.co.uk in partnership with the Centre for Retail Research (CRR) led an analyse over 50 major retailers and 1,000 shoppers from several countries.
According to their Shopping for Christmas 2019 report, the UK will witness a lower increase in its holiday shopping than during previous years.
Indeed, Christmas spending is expected to increase by just 0.8% from 2018, which is down from 1.2% last year and 1.4% the year before.
During the six weeks leading to Christmas, from the middle of November to the end of December, including Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the January Sales, Britons are predicted to be closer to their wallet than before.
Apart from global reasons such as a stagnant global trade and economic activity paired with a slower Eurozone economic activity, the UK faces another particular challenge: Brexit.
Happy Brex-mas?
A potential pairing down from the EU added to a possible mid-November General Election has led to a general fall in customer confidence.
However, the different political scenarios will not affect Christmas shopping in the same way:
- If a Brexit deal is settled, or if it is yet again postponed, Christmas sales won’t likely be affected as soon as expected.
- However, in the case of No-Deal, consequences are to be felt from November 2019.
- Even if Brexit is cancelled altogether, sales are not expected to increase much from 2018, and the UK will still witness a way lower increase than past years.
Whatever the case, the consequences will definitely be felt during the 2020 Christmas period.
Anita Naik, Lifestyle Editor at VoucherCodes.co.uk explained:
“Whilst Christmas is always a busy period for shoppers, it looks as though concerns around Brexit have muted our excitement for this year.
“ Our research suggests that it is fears over the economic impacts of Brexit, rather than any immediate price changes or product shortages themselves, that are set to hit spending the hardest.
“ This would indicate that customers are looking for clarity and certainty around their financial situations before wanting to fork out on gifts and an expensive Christmas meal.”
To translate these scenarios into concrete situations, the report gives a practical example:
‘If lorries are stranded at ports, [...] economic life suffers immediately.
'In this instance, the growth in retail sales this Christmas in the UK may fall from +0.8% to +0.2%.’
