It’s that time of year again when the forecasts about festive season spending come thick and fast. And the verdict from one study is that Britons will spend almost £23 billion on gifts, decorations and other festive products in the six weeks leading up to Christmas.
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That’s according to voucher and discount code specialist VoucherCodes that has a pretty strong track record with its forecasts.
But first, let’s look at its prediction for overall retail spending as that will include some products (such as party dresses) not included in specific festive spending but still integral to the season.
It said UK total retail spending during the period (17 November to 31 December) will rise 3.2% to £91.12 billion, which is almost the highest among Europe’s most developed economies except for Spain, which is forecast to rise 3.8% although only to the euro equivalent of £26.86 billion.
Meanwhile Germany should increase 2.4% to £74.78 billion with France up a meagre 1.1% at £62.86 billion. But that beats italy with a forecast rise of only 0.8% to £37.75 billion. Elsewhere on the league table, after Spain, the Netherlands is expected to increase 3% to £13.27 billion and Belgium 1.9% to £9.81 billion.
Clearly the UK is well out in front when it comes to total spending and the report said gifting should see the highest sales figure within the overall UK spend.
Festive-specific UK spending is forecast to be up 2.5% at £22.94 billion and gifting should see the highest sales figures at £11.59 billion, accounting for 50.5% of all festive purchases.
It’s interesting that gifting sales are expected to rise 2.1% this year having only risen by 0.8% in 2024 and having fallen in the previous two years. While the 2025 figure is still below inflation, it does at least show some sort of progress.
Consumers in the UK are also expected to spend £2.36 billion on festive holidays, a 1.8% increase, which may also boost sales of products such as fashion and beauty.
It’s also interesting to look at the predictions for online/offline sales. The Christmas shopping period has become a big moment for online sales and for this year, it’s predicted that such sales will increase 4.7% to £34 billion compared to only 2.3% for physical stores.
Yet despite online shopping’s impressive growth, almost two-thirds of all Christmas retail spend will take place in stores (62.7%), accounting for a staggering £57.1 billion of total spending across the festive period.
