AS THE countdown to Christmas Day continues, thoughts are very much on finding that perfect present.
And a new survey has found that almost a third of people are planning to shop local, and a similar amount are planning to spend more this year compared to last year’s lockdown write-off.
Secret Santa name generator DrawNames.co.uk found that with people spending time at home during the last 18 months, there has been a real resurgence in people wanting to support their local communities and independent businesses.
This shows in the survey where 30% of people plan to shop locally or from small businesses to buy their Christmas presents.
And with last year not being a ‘typical’ Christmas, it’s no surprise that 28% said it was because they wanted to make it extra special this year.
Businesses have shown they are grateful to their employees, as 20% of people said they will spend more as they had a pay rise this year.
The average amount that people plan to spend this year has increased by £55 (13%) from £423 last year to £478 this year.
Of individual retailers, the survey found that 18% will mostly be shopping online from ASOS, 19% plan to shop at John Lewis and 21% at Marks and Spencer. It’s no surprise that 42% will shop at Argos.
The tradition of children circling the toys they want in the Argos catalogue may sadly be over, as Argos announced they stopped the catalogue last year after printing one billion copies for 47 years, but people will still be ordering online.
The convenience of Amazon Prime next day delivery is unsurprisingly still proving popular with a massive 77% of people surveyed that they will be shopping with the online giant.
A Secret Santa exchange is often considered an office tradition but is becoming more popular, with 25% of people saying they will host one with their friends and 18% with family members.
The Secret Santa tradition sees people given a name secretly, and then have to buy that person a gift anonymously, once a budget has been set. 58% say that they still pull a name out of a bowl or hat to pick their Secret Santa.
This can be difficult if friends and family aren’t local and this is where DrawNames comes in. It is a 100% touchless, virtual and free Secret Santa gift exchange app that aims to bring families together from across the globe.
It says that more than seven million people have drawn names this year.
It can also help find presents to a budget for anyone, be they family, friend or colleague.
It sounds like a perfect little helper, even for the great man himself.
