BRC CHRISTMAS FACTS AND FIGURES

12 December 2005

Christmas is the most significant trading period of the year for retailers in the UK, with approximately 40% – 60% of many larger retailers turnover being made between November and January – ‘the Golden Triangle’.

To mark this significant period, the BRC has compiled a special fact-sheet outlining how much consumers spend and what we spend our money on at Christmas.

• Total spending in December 2004 was £31 billion, of which £14 billion was spent in the two weeks leading up to Christmas and £5 billion in the week after Christmas. Of the £31 billion, £10 billion was specifically for Christmas purchases.
• On average, each person will spend £330 on Christmas gifts.
• On average, each household will spend approximately:
• £160 on food and drink
• £660 on gifts
• £20 cards and postage
• £25 decorations
• £20 crackers
• £35 Christmas trees.
• This year we will spend more than £1.2 billion on Christmas trees, with between 34 - 36 million trees produced to cope with demand.
• We will send an estimated 1.7 billion Christmas cards to friends and family.
• Christmas wrapping paper sold in the UK equates to 83 sq km, which is enough to cover 33 Hyde Parks.
• Christmas costs £920 for the day. Based on a 12-hour day this works out at £1.28 per minute, and £76.66 per hour.
• The average Christmas lunch costs £12 per head (excluding alcohol).
• We will consume 30 million turkeys this Christmas with a market value of £305 million.
• On average, children will receive gifts worth more than £250.

Commenting on Christmas 2005, BRC Director General, Kevin Hawkins, says:

“When it comes to Christmas 2005, we are again seeing that many traditional presents such as clothing, jewellery, CDs and books are on people’s gift list. However, technology items are on the ‘must have’ lists with MP3 players such as the new Nano and video i-Pod proving very difficult to find on store shelves due to the high level of demand. Equally popular are the new gaming machines with people queuing to purchase PSPs and X-Boxes.

“While 2005 has been a tough year for many retailers and consumers have benefited from the significant discounts available on the high street, our advice to consumers is not to leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute in the hope of significant discounts. Retailers have been monitoring stock levels closely over the last few months and if people do leave shopping until the last minute they may find that variety is limited.”

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