Christmas shopping: Eve rush ahead
£2bn Christmas Eve shopping rush
Monday, 24 Dec 2007 11:54
British shoppers are set to spend £2.14 billion today in the final shopping hours before Christmas - but not all presents will be soundly accepted.
Research by Sainsbury's Bank reveals over 19 million people will be out shopping this Christmas Eve spending the equivalent of £89 million an hour - with 18 per cent of all shopping on credit cards as budgets are squeezed at the last moment.
Some one million people will do all their Christmas shopping today and 4.72 million will buy over 50 per cent of their presents.
Donald MacLeod, head of cards at Sainsbury's, said: "It looks like the shops are going to be busy on Christmas Eve as a lot of people intend to do a significant part of their shopping then.
"Our research would indicate that the overall spend in the Christmas Eve rush is going to be considerably up on last year's."
The figures are backed up by data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) which point to a last minute rush in search of bargains.
BRC director general Kevin Hawkins said: "After a very slow start, the Christmas rush finally kicked-in in the last ten days of shopping. But a lot of that was driven by discounting, good for customers but bad for those retailers who’ve seen their margins squeezed in a crucial month."
However, despite Brits hitting the high streets, shopping malls and department stores up and down the UK today, their efforts may well be pointless.
Some 79 per cent of people will receive a Christmas present they do not want - and 24 per cent give unwanted gifts to others, according to figures from Paypal.
It is estimated the UK will be left with £78 million worth of unwanted Christmas presents - 38 per cent of which will be left at the back of draws gathering dust while 17 per cent will be returned to shops.
A quarter of those returning presents do so as they judge the gifts to be too "cheap and chavvy".
Cristina Hoole, shopping expert at PayPal, said: "Brits today may be polite when unwrapping their presents, but they aren’t willing to put up with anything that looks cheap or chavvy. Even more worrying is that it is husbands and wives who seem to be getting it wrong the most!
"There are plenty of bargains to be had by shopping online compared to the high-street. If you are prepared to do some digging around on the internet you'll find fantastic and original ideas to ensure you deliver the most creative presents without breaking the bank this Christmas."