Forget the 21st, it’s judgment day today- at least when it comes to Christmas shopping. Today is the day when millions of Brits will be hit by an attack of festive panic – because they have done little or no Christmas shopping.
With just five days to go until the 25th and even the next day delivery options now cutting it fine, research revealed as many as one in two will have felt a shudder this morning at the size of the task facing them.
The study of 2,000 adults found men are the biggest culprits for leaving it late – with more than one fifth claiming they have been ‘too busy’ to get to grips with the Christmas shopping, and almost half admitting that leaving shopping until the final week is ‘standard procedure’.
The most common excuse for women who will be hit by panic this morning is that they were waiting until payday.
The research, which was commissioned by House of Fraser, also found three in ten adults didn’t even start thinking about buying presents until this month.
A spokesman for House of Fraser said:
”It seems sometimes, even for those with the best of intentions, Christmas has a habit of coming round a little too quickly.
”Of course everyone has a different approach to their Christmas shopping and how early or late they like to get it done – but the results show that December 20th is the time when the alarm bells really go off.
”The national results echo our own customer figures which suggest women to be better at getting the job done earlier, while nearly a third of our male shoppers leave their Christmas shopping until the very last week.
”Whether you prefer to get your presents early or wait a little longer, the important thing is being happy with your purchases and luckily there’s still time for those who are yet to finish theirs.”
The study also found being indecisive, a lack of organisation or a reliance on shopping online with more flexible delivery dates were other factors given for taking the more relaxed approach to festive purchases this year.
Laziness plays its part for many, while others keep putting it out of their mind- a desperate few are still waiting for strong hints from friends or their other half to guide them in the right direction.
Many laid back people simply ‘need to feel the pressure’ before they can get their shopping started.
It was women who were the more organised of the sexes, but 55% of those surveyed admitted to being disorganised when it came to festive shopping.
Men are much more likely to have left their shopping until the last possible week, with 46% admitting this is standard procedure.
Men were also twice as likely as women to leave all of their shopping until just a couple of days before Christmas.
Women were 50% more likely to get stressed over getting the right presents and will spend much longer deliberating over what to buy.
In fact, one in five women have spent over a month deciding whether a present was right or not, while 40% of men will dedicate at most a couple of hours.
Perhaps no surprise then that women were also much more likely to feel the pressure in getting a partner’s present absolutely right- 22% of people have got a gift for a partner completely wrong.
A fifth of men will secretly rummage through their partner’s things in a bid to get present ideas, while three in ten will go off someone else’s suggestion when buying for their loved one.
Generosity beings at £100 – both sexes described this as the minimum value a present had to be worth in order to classify as a generous gift.
Men spend 26% more on average than girls spend on their partners – with the average man set to spend £121 on their partner, compared to the £96 they’ll have spent on them.
TOP 10 REASONS THE BRITISH LEAVE SHOPPING LATE
1. Too busy with work
2. I’m waiting for payday
3. I can’t decide what to get
4. I’m not very organised
5. I’m going to do it online and take advantage of late delivery dates
6. I’m a bit lazy
7. I keep putting it out of my mind
8. I’m waiting for hints
9. I need to feel the pressure on me
10. I’m a bit hesitant because I got the wrong present last year
