How much do Scots spend on Christmas presents?

BUYING Christmas presents can leave many strapped for cash at the conclusion of the festive season. Now, new research has revealed the true cost of the yuletide shopping spree on Scottish wallets.

The average Scot will buy gifts for 7.9 people.

Scottish Christmas shoppers are set to spend £1.84 billion on presents and buy over 61 million gifts for the big day, a study has found.
The average Scot can expect to fork out £416.27 buying 13.9 Christmas presents over the festive period for 7.9 people who make the average gift list.

This compares to an average spend in the UK of £489.04, on 14.8 presents for 8.3 people.

According to the figures from marketing technology firm RadiumOne, entertainment gifts (61 per cent), clothes (53 per cent) and food & drink (45 per cent) will be the most popular presents purchased by people in Scotland.

The most popular method of shopping for Scots is to do both research and buying online (41 per cent).

But despite many eschewing the high street rush for cyber stores, people in Scotland are among the most traditional shoppers in Britain. One in five (19 per cent) of those who know how they’ll buy their Christmas gifts will do both their research and shopping in-store – only Wales is higher (30 per cent). The average across Britain is 13 per cent.

Two thirds (66 per cent) will finance Christmas gift purchases from their monthly income, but nearly half (46 per cent) will need to pinch the pennies and dip into savings. A further 9 per cent of people will use credit to foot the bill.

When it comes to Christmas cards, people in Scotland are the least likely (25 per cent) to send Christmas cards, this compares to 16 per cent across the whole of Britain.

Seven in 10 (71 per cent) will send physical cards while just 9 per cent will send e-cards. Only people in the East Midlands (8 per cent) are less likely than the Scots to send e-cards.