People Christmas shopping in the shopping centre Iso Omena in Espoo in December 2023. Nordea’s annual survey shows that Finns intend to spend an average of 560 euros over the holiday season, including 346 euros on Christmas gifts. (Heikki Saukkomaa – Lehtikuva)
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FINNS are planning on spending an average of 560 euros on food, gifts and decorations over the holiday season, reveals a survey conducted for Nordea by Kantar Finland.
The yearly survey indicates that people will raise their gift budget by 13 euros from last year to 346 euros but cut back on other holiday spending, such as food and decorations, by 10 euros to 214 euros.
Some of the most popular gifts according to the survey are chocolates and other sweets, books, cash, clothes, gift cards and toys.
Nordea on Wednesday reported that although 59 per cent of the survey respondents said they plan on spending as much over the holidays as last year, the Black Friday-related spike in spending points to a busier holiday season for retailers. Card payment data collected by the financial services provider reveal that a record-amount of money was spent in the last week of November.
“With the rise in consumer prices levelling off and the rise in income levels continuing, we are heading in a better direction in terms of purchasing power. Even though we have yet to see a substantial increase in consumption, it has started waking up from its hibernation,” commented Juho Kostiainen, an economist at Nordea.
Finns, he predicted, will continue shifting their holiday spending toward online retailers.
“During the Black Friday week the number of online payments increased by 25 per cent from last year, and [the number] has almost doubled in five years,” he pointed out.
The survey also found that most people do not take the climate emergency into consideration in their holiday spending. Over half, or 56 per cent, of respondents said the emergency has no bearing on their spending choices, whereas 17 per cent stated that they would choose gifts that are less harmful to the environment and 16 per cent that they would choose immaterial gifts.
Slightly over a quarter, or 26 per cent, of respondents said they have given second-hand products as gifts at Christmas. Another quarter stated that they could imagine themselves doing so. Women, young people and families with children in particular are willing to choose second-hand products as gifts.
A little over a thousand 18–79-year-olds responded to the survey in early November. The results have a margin of error that ranges from 1.5 to 3.0 percentage points.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
