PayPal study reveals that 71 per cent of people in Ireland establish a budget for the holiday season

New research from PayPal unwraps consumer expectations and beliefs relating to Christmas shopping and spending during the festive season.

PayPal’s 2023 Festive Spending Snapshot – conducted by Censuswide and polling more than 1,000 consumers who celebrate the holiday season across Ireland revealed that 71 per cent of people actively establish a budget for the holiday season. However, despite their best intentions, 74 per cent of these budget-setters often overspend during the holiday season.

Budgeting plans for the holidays

Perhaps unsurprisingly, more than half (57%) of people get stressed when it comes to planning their Christmas budgets and 37 per cent would like better control over their holiday expenses.

Popular tips and trends among Christmas shoppers across Ireland included:

• Ringing the bells for budgets – Out of the shoppers who actively establish a budget for the holiday season, 36 per cent allocate budgets per person that they need to buy for. Just under a third (32%) say that having a budget makes them less stressed/more relaxed and some 26 per cent set one to prevent them from dipping into their savings.
• Jingling rather than mingling – A quarter (25%) of people in Ireland are forgoing their work Christmas parties to make their budgets stretch further this Christmas. Furthermore, attending New Year’s Eve parties are off the list of 24 per cent of consumers to reduce costs.
• Sleighing with saving – Thirty-two per cent of consumers plan to pay for goods using loyalty points or rewards, while 28 per cent will compare prices using apps to cut back on spending this year. Moreover, 21 per cent will use a digital wallet (like PayPal) to track online purchases and 18 per cent will shop online this year.

Festive shopping habits

When it comes to online shopping, respondents cited main benefits which included saving time (48%), helps them to avoid crowds (44%), better offers (36%), more competitive prices (33%), greater variety (31%) and it enables them to complete their shopping earlier (27%).

On timing, 57 per cent of consumers expect to have their Christmas shopping finished by the 12th of December. On the other hand, the county with the highest proportion of last-minute shoppers – those that wait until after 20th December – is Monaghan (50%). This was followed by Offaly (29%), Kerry (28%) and Carlow (27%).

Looking beyond Christmas, 60 per cent of survey respondents usually shop in the January sales, with just over a third (34%) picking up presents for the following year. The expected average spend in the coming January sales is €248.

Are Irish people rationalising spending?

The study revealed people’s concerns when buying Christmas presents. These included delivery/arrival times (62%), overspending (61%) being scammed (57%), shopping on unfamiliar websites (49%) and filling in financial details when making purchases (46%).

However, despite the concern around excessive expense when Christmas shopping, more than three quarters (77%) of people have justified spending over their budget. About a quarter (28%) agree that ‘buying one and getting one free’ means they can treat themselves to the free item.

Meanwhile, 27 per cent typically spend enough to get free delivery so that they don’t lose money and 23 per cent believe that getting something for half price means they can make their budget go further.

The leading reasons for rationalising spending during this time of year were found to be that it is a means of relaxation (27%), gift-giving fosters emotional connections (25%) and it makes people feel less guilty (23%).

As for what’s driving this spending over their budget among consumers, more than a third (36%) cited much higher prices this year.

Speaking about the findings, Maeve Dorman, Senior Vice President, PayPal, commented: “It’s clear that people in Ireland are conscious of the cost associated with Christmas, with many justifying the expense and others overspending. But this is where “festive maths” comes in. It means planning and sticking to a budget, while being smart with spending. From tracking transactions and using Honey for discounts or using PayPal at Checkout, festive maths enables people to take better control of their finances and enjoy the holiday season.”

Refer to the PayPal website for more information on easy budgeting solutions for the festive season.

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