The Christmas holidays are approaching inexorably, like every year. As soon as you take down the Halloween decorations, in the blink of an eye you find yourself surrounded by Christmas trees, baubles and colored lights. Every year we therefore ask ourselves what to do at Christmas, what type of lunch and dinner to organize, what gifts to buy. All behind an implicit question that doesn’t feel the Christmas air or spirit: but with which one budget?
Around 10% of the 6 million Italians who have already bought Christmas presents have resorted to a loan. The problem of budget there was and they solved it by going into debt. After all, as the experts at Facile.it who conducted the analysis together with mUp Research explain, between gifts, decorations, dinners and celebrations, Christmas is a period of extraordinary expenses which, if not managed correctly, can put families in great difficulty. There are those who spread the costs over several months, anticipating the food expense and not by one or two months, and those who instead buy now to pay later. Finally, there are those who ask for a loan for gifts or to go on holiday. However, there are still many Italians who are waiting for the arrival of the 13th to face the costs of Christmas, but over time purchasing habits, especially “early” ones, have changed precisely because the purchasing power of families has decreased.
Italians in debt for Christmas: 10% asked for a loan
Facile.it commissioned mUp Research to carry out a survey on the habits of consumers dealing with Christmas shopping. The data illustrates a period of difficult family economic management. December hasn’t arrived yet, and just over 6 million Italians have already bought Christmas presents. Among these, 10% resorted to a loan.
Of the 6 million Italians, approximately 3 million chose to purchase with cash (47%), while 20% declared they had used a digital payment app. The use of the buy now pay later formula is growing (7.7%) with which Italians have purchased one or more products, deferring the payment of the cart in three or four interest-free installments.
Finally, 12% (around 800 thousand people) have chosen to resort to consumer credit through a form of financing or personal loan to purchase gifts and Christmas holidays or to deal with the expenses of the holiday period more generally.
We might say that we have developed habits that lead us to spend more than we can afford, as some commentators point out, or that we simply cannot admit that we can no longer afford what we had in the past.
Shopping habits: Christmas costs more and more
The high price of Christmas manifests itself in many ways: from the flights to return home for the many workers and students away from home, to the shopping cart which sees inflation on food items continue to grow, up to the increase in the cost of gifts.
The data on the increase in food prices relating to the Christmas period have not yet been released, but it is enough to go back a month to notice how the October data certify a slowing general inflation, but an increasing food inflation. Among the most expensive foods stand out:
- coffee (+20.6%);
- chocolate (+10.1%);
- meat, cheeses and non-alcoholic drinks (+8.2%);
- eggs (+7.4%);
- butter (+6.6%);
- dried fruit (+5.9%).
Thus purchasing habits also change. On the one hand there are those who continue to wait until the last moment or almost to do the shopping and buy gifts, because they are waiting for the arrival of the salary, the 13th salary or the bonus to which they have access; on the other hand there are those who try to anticipate expenses, starting to accumulate food or gifts as early as October and November. Finally, there are those who, as Facile.it data have shown, decide to buy today, but through a loan that they will continue to pay in the following months.
Christmas with the family: between tradition and necessity
There is talk of a “trend” of returning home for the Christmas period. A beautiful family tradition, that of spending the Christmas holidays together. Which is another way of saying that those who are single or live in more expensive cities for work or study would be unlikely to be able to cover Christmas expenses independently. The Christmas period in the maternal and paternal home is in some way a sigh of relief for personal finances. With the excuse of meeting grandparents and uncles, you save on groceries, bills and why not, on gifts.
However, it is not so obvious to say that those who return home for Christmas save money. First of all we need to understand if he can return home. The cost of flights or trains, but also petrol and other means of transport, increases during the holidays or is more felt due to the increase in expenses during the period.
Christmas can be spent with the family if you manage to return home and every year there are thousands of students and workers away from home who have to choose whether to spend very large sums to be able to see their loved ones again or whether to give up this expense and perhaps stay alone at home during the holidays.
Complaints about the high cost of Christmas flights have already begun and indicate dramatic increases. Two examples:
- the Turin-Catania route exceeds 200 euros;
- flights from Milan to Perugia exceed 100 euros.
The alternative is expensive trains or hours of driving, a means with which one still has to bear high costs such as fuel and motorway toll booths. On the one hand, there are those who return home to save money, somehow managing to keep family traditions intact, and those who aren’t even able to buy a ticket. Other than that trend: there is no fashion, but only a creeping crisis.
