Note: These statistics are (maybe unsurprisingly) both American- and Christmas-centric. I’m sure this skews the stats a bit, but regardless, we can get some general insights:
- 46% of people polled said they have lied about liking a gift they received. Sounds like many gift-givers find themselves in the present predicament – the system doesn’t set us up for success.
- In 2018, US households spent an average of $1,536 during the Christmas holidays. About 1/3 of that went towards gifts, with the rest going towards entertaining, going out, and clothes for celebrations.
- 22% of Americans believe holiday spending will leave them in debt. Yikes! Is that really want we want? I’m sure you’d choose a simple gift over a fancy, expensive one any day, especially if you knew it would put your loved one in debt.
- 62% of Americans buy gifts one week before Christmas. Only 28.8% of Americans start their holiday shopping in November. Intentional and sustainable gift-giving requires more planning ahead in many cases. If more people made the shift and started planning earlier, they may have a higher success rate.
- 51% of Christmas shoppers buy gifts for themselves, too. I included this statistic not to make people feel guilty for purchasing things for themselves, but to highlight the fact that when we’re in the shopping mode, we may tend to over-buy.
- 66% of shoppers will pay more for sustainable products. This is the “green premium” we’ve discussed before, but it’s great to see such a high percentage of people (who tend to be on the younger side) are willing to pay a bit more for a better option. Hooray!
Source: Fortunly.com