All I want for Christmas is a two for one deal ...

I am almost done with my Christmas shopping. Each year I attempt to get it finished before the first week of December so I don’t have to hurl myself into the fray of frantic shoppers in mid-December.

I also try to attempt some homemade goodies for people and so spent the weekend making blackberry and vanilla jam and strawberry, lime and rosewater jam. All the pots set but I fear the blackberry might be more jelly-like than jam-ish.

I have also been thinking back to Christmas last year, the time when Australians were starting to get concerned about the impact of the GFC on Australia. I reckon I will spend this year around about what I spent last year, although I can’t be entirely sure as I generally fail to set myself a Christmas budget.

In this respect I am pretty typical, according to poll Ipsos did in October of this year.

We polled 1045 Australians and ask them the following:

To what extent, if at all, will you change your Christmas spending this year compared with last year as a result of the current economic environment?

48% of respondents said ‘the same’.

There were some big spenders in the sample, with 5% reporting ‘a lot more’, and 12% ‘a little more’ (remember last year’s Christmas sales were better than expected …).

23% reported ‘a little less’ and 11% ‘a lot less’.

Consumer sentiment is certainly up compared with the beginning of the year and our most recent round of fieldwork showed consumers generally believe we are over the worst of the GFC.

And yet other research has predicted gloomier results this Christmas.

http://www.westpac.com.au/docs/pdf/aw/economics-research/er20091116BullAusConsumXmasSpending.pdf

http://www.smh.com.au/small-business/managing/christmas-cheer-in-short-supply-20091116-ihcn.html

Why might this be the case?

Well, we have been saying to our clients that despite the fact consumers aren’t focused on the GFC, that doesn’t mean they aren’t concerned about cutting costs. Indeed many feel there have been important lessons to be learned from the entire GFC experience, particularly in the area of over-the-top consumption and credit card debt.

Not to mention the fact consumer may well be in savings mode for bigger purchases like cars, home renovations and holidays, plans that may have been shelved this year but put back on the agenda in 2010.

It could be shaping up to be a merry but frugal Christmas.