(qlmbusinessnews.com via telegraph.co.uk – – Fri, 2 Dec, 2016) London, Uk – –
Britain's vote to leave the European Union has had no effect on the majority of shoppers Christmas spending plans, according to fresh figures.
The average UK adult expects to spend £280 on Christmas gifts this year, according to a survey by PwC of 2,000 shoppers across the country.
More than two-thirds of adults surveyed (67pc) said that Brexit had no impact on their spending habits.
“We’ve seen UK consumers respond robustly to this year’s political uncertainty and sterling weakness, as evidenced by the post-referendum retail sales figures,” said Madeleine Thomson, retail and consumer leader at PwC.
Regionally, Londoners, said that Brexit will have the most impact on Christmas spending, with 44pc in total feeling that it would have either a slight or considerable impact.
However, Yorkshire and Humber had the highest percentage of people who felt that Brexit would have no impact at all on their Christmas spending.
Scotland has the highest expected festive spend with £328.66 while the East Midlands has the lowest at £241.47.
Meanwhile, around 4pc of polled Brits said they don’t buy presents at all, with 64pc saying they did not celebrate Christmas, and a quarter said they did not have anyone to give gifts to.
Following on from the Black Friday shift to online shopping, over half of adults surveyed said they would buy gift online this Christmas. Online sales reached a record £1.23bn on Black Friday, up 12.2pc on the same day in 2015, according to retail analysts at IMRG. A number of retailers also took the step to discount early meaning that online sales for the week also rose to £6.5bn.
Earlier this week John Lewis reported its biggest ever week of sales with a 6.5pc lift to £200m.
However, the high street suffered from a 7pc dip in footfall as the spending shifted online. #
By Ashley Armstrong
