Home | Blog | It’ll be a cutback Christmas with men missing out most

By Paul Baxter
12th December 2023

• More than one in four plan to spend less this year but the average bill will still be more than £700, research from The Green Insurer shows
• People are most likely to reduce spending on gifts for their partner with women cutting down more than men
• Around one in seven say they will consider turning to Artificial Intelligence to help them choose presents
• Christmas spending is being cut back this year in the face of the ongoing cost of living crisis but average spending will still be more than £700, new research from The Green Insurer, the UK’s greener car insurance broker, reveals.

More than one in four (26%) people say they are planning to spend less on Christmas this year compared to last time taking into account all aspects of festive spending including food, travel and presents.

That number outweighs the one in seven (14%) expecting to increase spending on last time and sees average total spending estimated at around £716. Around 10% of people questioned are planning on spending £1,500 or more on the festive season.

People are expecting to concentrate savings on the cost of gifts for their partners. Around 22% questioned say they will spend less this year on a gift for their partner. Around 60% of those planning to cut back on spending on their partner are women compared with 40% of men.

The reduced spending on partners’ will be significant with nearly one in three (31%) planning to cut spending by 25% or more on their partners’ gift.

The research for The Green Insurer, the UK’s first greener car insurance broker, which offers discounts of up to 6% with a wide range of retailers, found inevitably that the overwhelming reason for reducing spending this year is the cost of living crisis. Around 79% reducing spending blamed the squeeze on living standards although 4% said they weren’t getting on with family and friends.

It’s not just money saving that people are looking at this year – around 15% say they are considering saving time on picking presents by relying on online Artificial Intelligence services such as Google’s to suggest present ideas.

Partners may have to make do with cheaper presents but children, parents and grandparents should not suffer. Just one in seven (14%) will spend less on children while 13% will spend less on their mother and 10% will spend less on their father. Around 8% will spend less on grandparents.

Paul Baxter, CEO, The Green Insurer, said: “Cutting back on Christmas spending makes perfect sense after the year we have just had with inflation and rising interest rates putting family budgets under pressure.

“There is more to come next year as people increasingly move on to higher mortgage rates as fixed rate deals come to an end and energy bills increase again. Discounts and rewards schemes can help us all make our money go further and it makes sense to search them out where possible.”

Up to 70 companies have partnered with The Green Insurer to offer rewards and discounts including ASDA, Tesco, Sainsbury’s Waitrose, Iceland and Morrisons plus retailers Clarks, Harvey Nichols, Halfords, Habitat and Waterstone’s as well as restaurant chains Zizzi, Ask Italian and Café Rouge. On a weekly supermarket shop of £200 a 6% discount would be worth more than £600 a year.

Independent and green offers include eco laundry capsules, eco clothing, reusable coffee cups and refillable natural deodorant. The company plans to expand the number of rewards partners and is contacting companies who can also sign up on its website. It will also add other insurance partners in the future and potentially expand the types of policies it offers.

Drivers can buy environmentally conscious insurance direct from www.thegreeninsurer.com or through leading price comparison websites. The Green Insurer aims to cut insurance costs for drivers at a time of rapidly rising premiums by negotiating special deals with insurers.

It offers rewards for environmentally friendly driving worth on average £20 a year through its Leaves scheme as well as discounts of up to 6% on weekly supermarket shopping through a range of partnerships. It expects to be most competitive for drivers doing low annual mileage. All customer inquiries to The Green Insurer will be dealt with by humans based in the UK rather than chatbots or overseas call centres.

The Green Insurer is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, under the registration number 998384.