At Christmas the Italians will not cut the cost of gifts, but the greater availability compared to a year ago will go mainly to replenish the savings item in light of the context of greater economic uncertainty. The best-selling products include consumer electronics, IT products, toys and leisure items, followed by clothing and footwear.
Here are the results of the study carried out for Confcommercio by Format Research.
Also for Christmas 2018 the escalation of online purchases will continue. The percentage of Italians who use the web to make Christmas gifts is growing continuously: they were only 3.8% in 2009, after three years, in 2012, this percentage had already risen to 28.3%, in 2015 it rose at 39.6%, in 2016 at 44%, in 2017 at 47.8% and today at Christmas 2018 the purchase on the web will affect 50.8% of consumers.
The Christmas of 2018, for consumers will be characterized by a, though slight, greater propensity to make purchases: those who are preparing to make purchases for gifts, will be 86.3%, compared to 86.1% of the 2017, 86% in 2016 and 85.9% recorded in 2015.
Christmas in 2018 will increasingly be marked by a shift between tradition and new digital consumption habits. The 4.0 trend also affects the types of gift made in 2018: new products include e-books, digital music, subscriptions to streaming platforms and digital cards. In fact, Christmas gifts have changed their face, and the technological evolution, which has grown at a very high rate, has also exercised its appeal on products purchased, increasingly “digitalized” and high-tech compared to the past.
What will the Italians get in prevalence in 2018? The types of «evergreen» gifts, such as foodstuffs, children’s toys, clothing, books and e-books (the latter increasing compared to 2017) remain at the top of the list and «new products» treatments enter with high percentages. of beauty, tickets for concerts, gift cards.
The Italians will spend 171 euros per person for the Christmas presents and 1400 euros per family, substantially stable figures compared to last year. savings).
