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Smaller Gatherings And Less Travel This Christmas, But More Optimism for 2022, Finds Global Christmas Survey by TGM Research
Christmas is the biggest holiday and shopping season worldwide. It is celebrated throughout the world by most people, and it is the most awaited time for consumers in the Western hemisphere. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, the concept of Christmas “togetherness” has changed, and economic constraints have impacted households’ spending power. The TGM Global Christmas Consumer Survey aims to better understand how retail customers behave during one of the most significant festive weeks in the world.
The goal of this study was to understand and capture the unique behavior preceding Christmas and its impact. TGM’s report shares detailed insights from consumers across five continents and how companies and marketers can connect during this time. The survey included 17 countries with an average country representative sample of 800. The total sample size was 14,250 using online market survey panels, representing over 1 billion consumers worldwide.
“The Christmas Global Survey 2021 shows that while optimism and the spirit of Christmas have returned the lingering impact of COVID-19 still remains. Those celebrating the Christmas and holiday season have severely reduced travel and limited the size of gatherings and will continue to embrace video conference technology” said Greg Laski CEO at TGM Research.
The majority of respondents (87 percent) said Christmas is their most awaited season of the year because of the opportunity to spend time with family. However, gatherings will remain small in 2021, with an average of seven people, and most people have chosen to travel locally by car. Seventy-three percent said that Christmas has been worse during the pandemic, and one out of five said restrictions would get in the way of the ideal Christmas celebration.
The most notable findings from the newly released survey include:
- 72 percent of total respondents plan to use a video call for celebrating Christmas with family.
- 32 of all respondents plan to shop online for Christmas.
- Two-thirds of those surveyed expect 2022 to be better than 2021.
- A combined 55 percent of respondents from North America started preparing for Christmas 3-4 weeks to more than a month early, the earliest compared to Europe, Latin America, and the rest of the world,
- A majority of respondents plan to spend Christmas dinner with their family, regardless of the location. The next highest categories included cooking together, decorating and watching movies.
- One in five of those surveyed expect to be impacted by COVID restrictions, and half of those in North America and Europe plan to limit meetings with family and friends due to health risks
- Three out of four respondents in Latin America and the rest of the world said they would limit meetings.
- Of those surveyed, the average family meeting size for Christmas was 7.3 people, with a high of 9.8 in Latin America, and a low of 5.6 people in Europe.
- Only 30 percent of those contacted said they planned on traveling using their vehicle. A combined six percent said that they plan on traveling internationally for Christmas.
- The biggest increases in spending of those surveyed compared to last year were on food, drink and gifts, at 33 percent and 30 percent respectively.
- Roughly ten percent of respondents of the survey said they are planning on using a loan to finance holiday spending.
- 48 percent said 2021 was worse than an average year, and 61 percent said that 2022 will be better than 2021.
Commenting on the survey results, Greg Laski, CEO of TGM Research, said, “The pandemic has caused a lot of changes. However, during this festive season, we gain the opportunity to re-connect and reconsider our priorities globally. We commissioned our TGM Christmas Global Survey to gain a better understanding of how consumers worldwide tackle this new reality and what the prospects are for 2022.”
TGM Research findings show that compared to the previous year, there will be some signs of improvement this year in terms of Christmas spending. However, it is unlikely to bounce back to pre-pandemic trends. The survey provides several key takeaways related to consumer spending this Christmas.
The complete findings of the TGM Christmas Global Survey 2021 are available online at:
https://tgmresearch.com/christmas2021-global-survey.html
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Founded in 2017, TGM Research is a data and insights company specializing in online market research. With access to over 4 billion consumers worldwide and our proprietary online market survey panels, TGM helps businesses, academic and education research to identify, connect and engage with the people who matter. We do this by capturing declared first-party data. We help to understand, segment, target and engage with your target audiences globally through research that moves at the speed of culture.