Most Czechs Will Spend Less on Christmas This Year

Almost 57 percent of Czechs are planning to spend less this Christmas than they did last year, suggests a survey carried out by the STEM/MARK agency.

Seven out of ten people said they would cover their Christmas expenditures from their regular monthly salary and select mainly cosmetics and books

57 per cent of respondents will spend less on Christmas presents this year, 15 per cent will wait for the post-Christmas sales while a tenth of respondents will not buy presents because of the rising prices and the unfavourable economic situation.

Last year, 40 percent of people saved money on buying gifts. This year’s pre-Christmas survey, according to the authors, shows that people are more worried and will therefore cut back on Christmas.

Forty-three per cent of respondents expect to spend up to CZK 5,000 on all Christmas presents, while 30 per cent want to buy gifts of up to CZK 10,000.

While two years ago 34 per cent of people bought electronics for their loved ones, this year only 16 per cent of respondents want to buy them as Christmas presents.

Traditionally, cosmetics and books or small gift items ranked first. The types of gifts that Czechs will buy this year also reflect the current situation.

“The general rule is not to go into debt to buy Christmas presents. Gifts belong to the category of superfluous things, so it is better to be frugal and adapt to the current financial situation, set a budget for the total purchase in advance and then stick to it. If (someone) decides to finance it with a loan, they should calculate in advance whether they will have enough money for the monthly repayment,” said Miroslav Zborovský, Home Credit’s client ombudsman.