Households with children already saving to afford Christmas

Nearly half of shoppers with children claim they are already aiming to save money day to day so they can spend as much as they normally would this Christmas, according to the latest shopper insights from IGD.

While the Easter break was celebrated by many, the cost-of-living crisis means spending on such seasonal events is likely to be impacted this year.

Indeed, many family households are already saving, or are thinking about saving money to be able to afford Christmas this year.

This applies to 54 per cent of shoppers with children aged 0-4; 47 per cent with children aged 5-10; and 45 per cent with children aged 11-18.

This is in contrast with the 16 per cent of shoppers without children who have already started saving for the festive season.

Rhian Thomas, head of shopper insight at IGD, said: “Throughout the pandemic period we predicted that once Covid-19 restrictions lifted, shoppers would be keen to celebrate special occasions to make up for time they lost during lockdowns.

“However, in 2022 this may be affected again as the rising cost of living affects how much shoppers have to spend on these occasions, particularly the least affluent and shoppers with young children at home.

“These groups will still want to make the most of special occasions, however, so providing options that enable them to do this with stretched budgets should be a key consideration for businesses this year.”

Significantly, 60 per cent of shoppers agree that a rise in costs would seriously affect how much they spend on special occasions this year.

“Offering this group of shoppers the ability to save money for big occasions like Christmas, while continuing to buy your products, such as through a loyalty card savings scheme, could be a good way to lock in their spend, but still allow them to save for big occasions,” said Thomas.