Christmas Shopping Statistics in a Nutshell:

• Over 50% of women start their Christmas Shopping in October & November
• 38% of men leave their Christmas shopping until December
• Christmas Queries in November 2020 were over 775% than in November 2015

Christmas Research Statistics: When people start researching for Christmas Shopping.

Christmas is such a special time for so many people, all over the world. Getting the family together, investing in some quality time, exchanging gifts, enjoying Christmas Dinner, and making memories that may last a lifetime. Even the run-up to Christmas can be magical with carols, advent calendars, wrapping presents, and making sure you’ve sent the right Christmas cards to the right people. But the preparation sometimes catches people out. We asked the question, when do people start researching for Christmas Presents?

We had a look at the numbers to find out.

When do we start our Christmas Shopping?

The stereotype of men always leaving it late is notorious, and we’re probably not the only ones who’ve spotted men making a mad dash through shopping centres’ on Christmas Eve because they haven’t gotten anything yet. But does it hold much truth or is this just anecdotal perception? Wesurveyed 1,000 people about when they start shopping for Christmas presents each year.

Males:

• Across all age ranges the most common month to start researching Christmas is December.
• While November was popular, December was twice as popular as October.

Females:

• A large proportion of women start their research in October and November.
• A much smaller proportion wait until December, the opposite from the men.

The lead time for researching Christmas gifts has gotten earlier, with queries for “Christmas” really starting to rise around mid-October but often appear in early September.

Christmas Queries:

If you type “Christmas” into Google, you get a collection of different options. Most of them are related to preparing for Christmas or getting into the ‘Christmas Spirit’. Whether that be getting a tree and decorations, a new background for your phone, or investing in some new Christmas themed pyjamas. But as you can see, no options for gifts.

So, usingKeyWord Finder, we asked the question, what do the search volumes look like and how have they changed year on year?

The highest search totals were from searches relating to getting into the ‘Christmas Spirit’ but Christmas Gifts was only at 70,700 searches. But when you consider that since 2015, the number of queries has risen dramatically to the point where the total searches in 2020 were 778% higher than in 2015.

Spending Habits

It seems that the gradual rise of search queries of various Christmas related terms, would tie into the rise of e-commerce and the decline in footfall on the high street. There are year on year increases for all the Christmas related search terms but also more general gifts queries. With gifts for more than £10 related searches have been rising every year. Especially in 2020, although whether that is related to the COVID Lockdowns remains to be seen.

Summary:

With not only search volumes increasing, but the peak search times getting earlier in the year. Now whether this is just the effect of the COVID’19 Lockdown or a natural change in the market is too soon to tell. But it is safe to say, businesses need to be prepared for Christmas earlier than usual.

Methodology and Caveats:

• Survey data were obtained using Google Surveys.
• Search data gathered using kwfinder.com (premium subscription) which estimates search volumes in Google. 1 search does not necessarily mean one person searching. Some users may search multiple times