Christmas shopping habits revealed

Are you an organised early bird or do you leave it to the last minute? Do you love the idea of coming up with a list of gifts or does it fill you with dread? In the Rex London offices we had a wide range of answers and opinions, so we thought we'd do a bit more digging! 

We conducted a survey* and asked about your gift-giving habits, including who you like to buy for and when you start your Christmas shopping. Here are the results - some of the answers might surprise you!

• - 20% of shoppers buy their first Christmas present in September
  - The most popular month for people to buy their first Christmas present is January
  - Only 3.6% of people buy their first Christmas present in December
  - 37% of people spend a month deciding what to buy their partner for Christmas

A surprising 23% of respondents buy their first Christmas present in January, more than any other month, followed by September (20.1%) and October (18.3%). This skew towards January is likely driven by the savvy and organised among us shopping in the winter sales in a bid to bag a bargain.

December was the least popular month, with just 3.6% of the voters admitting to last-minute shopping.

It seems most of us do put some thought into what we buy for partners, with more than a third of people taking a month to decide on what to buy. Or, maybe our partners are just notoriously tricky to buy for; only 10% of people voted for them as their favourite people to buy for.

Spare a thought for our in-laws though, who were revealed to be the least favourite people to buy for by 25.8% of respondents. 

It was the kids who came out on top, with a huge 56.2% of people choosing them as their favourite people to buy for. It come as no surprise - after all, choosing gifts for kids is definitely the most fun. 

Are you one of the 20% buying their first present in September? If so, hop on over to our Christmas shop for all your gifting needs, with thoughtful treats for him and her, babies and teens, and even the dog. 

If you need a bit more time to plan, have a read of our ultimate gift-giving guide to make sure you choose the perfect thing. 
 

• *Based on 1244 responses from the Rex London gift-giving survey 2024, where we also discovered that nearly half of us expect random gifts.